“Three days ago, with the mediation of European Council President Charles Michel, we made a step further, emphasizing that Armenia recognizes Azerbaijan’s territory of 86,600 square kilometers and Azerbaijan recognizes Armenia’s territory of 29,800 square kilometers,” Pashinian said in a speech delivered during a Council of Europe summit in Iceland.
The total Soviet-era area of Azerbaijan cited by him includes Karabakh.
Michel likewise said in Brussels that Aliyev and Pashinian “confirmed their unequivocal commitment to … respective territorial integrity of Armenia (29,800 square kilometers) and Azerbaijan (86,600 square kilometers).” That was construed by Armenian opposition leaders as further proof of Pashinian’s readiness to help Baku regain control over Karabakh.
One of those leaders, Armen Ashotian, condemned Pashinian’s confirmation of Michel’s statement as “treasonous.” Pashinian thereby “annexed Karabakh to Azerbaijan,” Ashotian said in a Facebook post.
Commenting on the Brussels summit earlier this week, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry emphasized “Armenia’s acceptance of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territorial integrity.”
Pashinian stopped invoking the Karabakh Armenians’ right to self-determination a year ago. Since then, he has spoken instead of the need to protect their “rights and security.”
Karabakh’s leadership has criticized the Armenian premier’s statements on the conflict with Azerbaijan made over the past year. On Monday, it accused the European Union and Michel in particular of turning a blind eye to Azerbaijan’s five-month blockade of Karabakh’s sole land link with Armenia.
Speaking in Iceland’s capital Reykjavik, Pashinian also denounced the blockade. At the same time, he called for the start of “Baku-Stepanakert negotiations aimed at providing security and human rights for the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh under an international mechanism.”
Aliyev has repeatedly rejected such a mechanism and ruled out any status for the Armenian-populated region.