Whereas Azerbaijan has demanded the return of the exclaves, Yerevan hoped they may kind a part of an change, with Azerbaijani troops withdrawing from the estimated 215 sq. kilometers of Armenian territory they took throughout a quick invasion in 2022. In line with Pashinyan, that deal was refused and the villages should be returned to make sure Azerbaijan doesn’t launch one other offensive.
No point out was product of whether or not Azerbaijan would agree at hand over an Armenian exclave inside its borders, roughly equal in measurement to the 4 villages.
The assertion got here as NATO Secretary-Common Jens Stoltenberg visited Armenia, praising the nation’s rising help for Ukraine, and mentioned the alliance will help its “sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Armenia has sought nearer ties with the West because the begin of Russia’s all-out conflict in Ukraine, with Pashinyan telling POLITICO final 12 months that Moscow is now not a dependable safety guarantor.
On Tuesday, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev visited the previous Nagorno-Karabakh area, inside his nation’s borders however which was till final 12 months underneath Armenian management since a conflict within the Nineteen Nineties. An Azerbaijani offensive in September conquered the territory, triggering a mass exodus of its 100,000 Armenian residents.