Speaking on next year’s budget, Pashinian said that it will more than double the amount of spending on the military as compared to 2018 when his government first came to power. But at the same time he gave assurances that the increase in military spending will be “in preparation for peace rather than war.”
According to Pashinian, citizens’ feeling secure is the most important guarantee of peace and stability.
“I am sure that all our neighbors are convinced that we have no intention of attacking anyone, and in that regard, I do not consider the concerns expressed about the acquisitions by our armed forces to be sincere. It is the duty of every sovereign nation to strengthen its army, which is something that we are doing. In the last 10 years Azerbaijan’s defense spending was on the average three times higher than Armenia’s and continues to be such,” he said.
Recently, in presenting an increase in his country’s military budget, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated that they “have to increase the military budget to a record level, because even after Armenia’s defeat in the war we see danger from it.”
In this view Pashinian said that while Armenia and Azerbaijan have basically agreed on key principles, the lack of trust between the two countries remains the main reason why the signing of a peace agreement is being stalled.
“Because every time we see in the statements and certain actions of Azerbaijan, and, perhaps, Azerbaijan sees in our statements and some of our actions, intentions to abandon these arrangements and plan aggressive actions, which has a negative impact on the text version of the peace agreement,” Pashinian said.
Pashinian also stressed that Yerevan’s political will to sign a peace agreement with Azerbaijan in the coming months remains “unshakable”, but said that there were a number of issues to clarify.
“One is the formulation of a mechanism for overcoming possible misinterpretations of the content of the peace agreement, the other is the creation of security guarantees so that no escalation be possible after the signing of the peace agreement,” he said.
Pashinian emphasized again that key principles have been agreed upon with Azerbaijan, saying that it happened during negotiations, in particular, during the tripartite meetings held in Brussels on May 14 and July 15 of this year.
The Armenian prime minister laid down these principles: “Armenia and Azerbaijan recognize each other’s territorial integrity, with the understanding that the territory of Armenia is 29, 800 square kilometers, and the territory of Azerbaijan is 86,600 square kilometers. The Alma-Ata Declaration of 1991 is a political basis for border delimitation between Armenia and Azerbaijan. In fact, there is an understanding that the maps of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces from 1974 to 1990 should be used for border delimitation. Armenia and Azerbaijan have no territorial claims to each other and undertake not to advance such claims in the future either. Regional transport links should be reopened on the basis of sovereignty, jurisdiction, reciprocity and equality of the countries.”
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