Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, when asked by an Armenpress reporter about Azerbaijani claims that Armenia has recognized the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, skirted the issue and responded by questioning whether Baku has recognized Armenia’s territorial integrity.

“We have touched on this question many times. But in his speeches, constantly mentioning that Armenia has recognized the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, the President of Azerbaijan never once said that Azerbaijan also recognizes the territorial integrity of Armenia. Does this fact and the mention of various historical maps mean that Azerbaijan does not recognize the territorial integrity of Armenia and has ambitions for the territories of the Republic of Armenia?” Mirzoyan responded.

The Armenpress reporter failed to follow up with a request that Mirzoyan clarify Armenia’s position on the matter.

Following a meeting in Prague on October 6 between Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and French President Emmanuel Macron, the Armenian government issued the following statement.

“Armenia and Azerbaijan confirmed their commitment to the UN Charter and the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1991, through which both sides recognize each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty. They confirmed that this will serve as basis for the work of the commissions on delimitation and that the next meeting of these commissions will take place in Brussels by the end of October.”

The statement raised serious concerns in Artsakh and a government delegation was dispatched to Yerevan for consultations with the Pashinyan administration.

In the wake of the Prague statement, Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan told local MPs that his administration remains committed to achieving international recognition of the independence of the Artsakh people.

Harutyunyan said the people of Artsakh have the right to self-determination.

The delegation he led to Yerevan had to wait for a week before being received by Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan.

Mirzoyan told Armenpress that Armenia’s international partners must do more to curb Baku’s bellicose rhetoric and provocations against Armenia and to force Azerbaijan to remove its troops from sovereign Armenian territory.

Mirzoyan also countered recent Baku claims that Armenia has laid mines in Nagorno Karabakh, claiming that Azerbaijan troops have uncovered mines in the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia they now occupy.

“We do not deny that Armenia’s Armed Forces carry out mine-laying operations in the sovereign territory of Armenia, and this is due to the constantly high risk of new military aggressions by Azerbaijan, which we witnessed in May and November 2021, as well as in September 2022,” Mirzoyan said.