"What is referred to as a ‘territorial exchange’ is a legally complex process. Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this at a briefing following today’s Cabinet sitting, responding to a question about his statement made a day ago regarding the absence of enclaves and exclaves on either side.
Nikol Pashinyan recalled that he has repeatedly said in the past that there are several options for resolving the issue, but the point is that the solution should be such that there are no enclaves or exclaves on either side of the border. According to Pashinyan, such scenarios are not new; they have been discussed before as well.
"I feel that, both in Armenia and in Azerbaijan, the understanding that such a solution needs to be found is becoming more concrete, because we all understand that the other scenario would create numerous problems, including for the residents of those villages - how they would cross the border, how they would travel back and forth, having to cross two borders, and so on. That is why such an understanding has existed before too; it is not as though there is anything new there," he said, recalling that he had spoken about this previously.
"Do you remember? I also said that what matters is what kind of process we are embarking on: do we want to create problems for each other, or solve the problems and close a certain historic chapter and open a new one? If we proceed with the second logic, the likelihood increases that there will be such a solution. Technically and legally, what kind of formulation would that take - for example, in the event of such a scenario, a referendum or no referendum - that is a matter of legal analysis...
First, delimitation must take place, along with the precise identification of the territories. We need to know how large the territory of Artsvashen is, where it [runs], and what physical territory it represents, so that we can give the issue a correct legal and political solution," he said, noting that this option has always been discussed and that it is not new.
"What is new is that I have spoken about it more clearly and openly, although an attentive observer would have noticed before that this is one of the options," he said, adding that he believes we are entering the final phase of institutionalizing peace and that he considers it important to bring the process to completion by 2031.
