News - Armenia's Mirzoyan: Border delimitation with Azerbaijan should be with latest Soviet-period maps

Reflecting on the matter of the normalization of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said that they hoped that a big step towards achieving peace would be made in Granada, Spain. Mirzoyan stated about this during the debates on the draft 2024 state budget at the joint meeting of parliamentary standing committees in the National Assembly of Armenia Friday. "Unfortunately, the president of Azerbaijan did not consider it necessary or convenient or appropriate to participate in that meeting. Whatever. The results of the quadrilateral meeting in Granada eventually produced a document that largely reflects the foundations of a long-term, stable, and dignified peace. It is benchmark for that peace treaty. It is by the principles contained in that document that we [Armenia] are guided when talking about peace. "You know that it is already the sixth round of exchanging comments or edits or meeting, negotiating. These have always been our [Armenia’s] benchmarks. The first is the mutual recognition of the territorial integrity of the two countries. We want to ensure concreteness here, and it is for this purpose that the encyclopedic surfaces of the territories of the two countries are noted," said Mirzoyan. The second principle, as per the Armenian FM, is that a border delimitation process should take place between Armenia and Azerbaijan. "It is said that this process should take place on the basis of the latest legal, legitimate maps of the Soviet period. It is a set of maps from 1974 to 1988. By and large, based on the borders that existed at the time of the collapse of the USSR. In my impression, as well as in the perception of Azerbaijan, this is how the process of border delimitation should take place. "The third principle, a much discussed topic, is the unblocking of the region. Armenia is not only not opposed, but also interested [in this]. Armenia considers itself one of the main beneficiaries in the process of unblocking the transportation, economic infrastructures of the region. All [regional] infrastructures must continue to operate under the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the countries through the territory of which they pass. Infrastructures should be unblocked based on the principle of reciprocity, equality," Armenian FM stated. According to him, the establishment of "Crossroads of Peace" project will be one of the political priorities of the Armenian foreign ministry in 2024.