Nothing has been decided on enclaves yet - Pashinyan

ArmInfo.The issue with the enclaves has not yet been resolved, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan  said on May 24 during a government hour in parliament, commenting on his own statement on May 22 that the territory of Azerbaijan with an area of 86.6 thousand square km also includes the so-called enclaves.

According to Pashinyan, the topic of enclaves has always been present  at the political level. "In the published document on the exchange of  territories in 1999, article 4 or 5 is on enclaves," he said.  The  issue, according to the prime minister, must be considered both in  the political and legal context. < In the political context, there  were conversations in Munich and Brussels, about whether we recognize  the existence of enclaves, that is, the presence of Artsvashen, which  belongs, belonged to Armenia, and the enclaves that are now on the  territory of the Republic of Armenia, which belonged to Azerbaijan.  Yes, at the political level we recognize this, while a number of  issues remain in the legal field, at least in relation to a number of  enclaves>, he said.

After we fix that Armenia and Azerbaijan recognize each other's  territorial integrity of 29.8 thousand sq.  km and 86.6 thousand sq.  km. accordingly, the question of enclaves arises, Pashinyan  emphasizes.  At the same time, as the head of the RA Security Council  noted, as soon as the de jure status of the enclaves is confirmed,  several options for solving the problem will arise. So, perhaps after  the signing of the peace agreement, the enclaves will remain part of  the country on territory of which they are located, or there will be  an exchange of territories remaining "along that line" of the  delimited border - with an accuracy of up to one kilometer

, the  prime minister said, noting that there are numerous subtleties, but  also a huge field for maneuvers. "Nothing has been decided yet, there  are thoughts, various ideas, none of them will be rejected," Nikol  Pashinyan concluded.

Azerbaijani enclaves in Armenia are located in the Tavush and Ararat   regions. These are the villages of Baghanis-Ayrum, Nerkin Voskepar   (Ashagi Askipara) and Verin Voskepar (Yukhari Askipara), Barkhudarly,   Sofulu, and Tigranashen (Kyarki) These settlements passed to Armenia   as a result of the war in the 1990s, during the first Karabakh war.   The village of Artsvashen, in turn, came under the control of Baku.

Many Armenian experts have repeatedly warned about the danger of   enclave exchange between Armenia and Azerbaijan from a strategic   point of view,  since when exchanging enclaves, we will have serious   problems with interstate roads. In particular, we are talking about   an enclave in the Ararat region (Tigranashen), where the M2   interstate highway passes, connecting the south and north of the   country and Armenia with Iran, and two more are in the Tavush region.   The same situation is in the north-east, in Tavush region, in a very   difficult winding area with two former enclaves. There is an  interstate highway connecting Armenia to Georgia through Ijevan,   Noyemberyan, and Bagratashen.

Meanwhile, Artsvashen, which is slightly smaller than the total area   of the three enclaves in its territory, does not occupy any strategic   area, on the contrary, it is completely surrounded by Azerbaijani   territory.