News - Armenia parliament rejects opposition's draft statement on border delimitation with Azerbaijan

The draft National Assembly (NA) of Armenia statement on border delimitation and demarcation between Armenia and Azerbaijan—and tabled by the opposition "Armenia" Faction, was not put on the agenda of the NA. A total of 27 MPs voted in favor of this draft, whereas 51 others—against it. Artur Khachatryan, a member of the "Armenia" Faction, presented this draft at the NA plenary session Tuesday. The Armenian parliamentary opposition is in favor of border delimitation with Azerbaijan, but according to them, this should be based on the actual borders between the two countries since 1993. Next, the aforesaid opposition MP reflected on the agreement reached by the border delimitation commissions of Armenia and Azerbaijan on April 19. In his view, this border delimitation should be carried on the basis of international documents, with the document developed by the OSCE Secretariat on border delimitation and demarcation as a guideline. According to the opposition MP, peace needs to be established in order to have a real border delimitation, border delimitation and demarcation should be consecutive actions, and the border line between Armenia and Azerbaijan should be adjusted around the entire perimeter and then be border demarcation. In turn, associated rapporteur, ruling majority “Civil Contract" Faction MP Maria Karapetyan, noted that by taking the border as of September 24, 1993 as a basis, Armenia will have to abandon its national border and return to the logic of military action. "This is absolutely unacceptable and contains legal, political, diplomatic, and military risks for the Republic of Armenia. Both Azerbaijan and Armenia have signed the Alma-Ata Declaration on December 21, 1991, thus joining the newly created Commonwealth of Independent States," said Karapetyan.