Despite efforts to characterize Azerbaijan’s September 13 attack on Armenia as a “border incident,” what happened then was actually a “large-scale invasion,” Armenia’s National Security Chief Armen Grigoryan said on Thursday.
Speaking at a summit of CIS national security leaders, Grigoryan attempted to counter efforts to downplay the severity of Azerbaijan’s aggression against Armenia and warned of the possibility of new threats and attacks on Armenia’s sovereign territory.
“I would like to specifically say that it [the attack] was not a ‘border incident’ or a ‘border clash’ as some forces have tried to present, but rather a large-scale invasion of the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia with the use of heavy artillery, rocket launchers and drones. The armed forces of Azerbaijan shelled 36 settlements and communities deep within the sovereign territory of Armenia, including the cities of Goris, Jermuk, Vardenis, Kapan,” Grigoryan said while addressing the summit.
“The risk of new aggression by Azerbaijan not only persists, but also remains quite high. Almost every day, the Azerbaijani side organizes provocations, violates the ceasefire on the border, accusing the Armenian side for it,” said Grigoryan, adding that since May 2021, when Azerbaijan first breached Armenia’s sovereign borders, Azerbaijan continues to “illegally controlled dozens of square kilometers of territory in our country.”
Grigoryan also declared Yerevan’s readiness to normalize relations with Baku and within that process open transport links and delimit the borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan. He cited the most recent announcement by the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia, adopted on Monday, by which they agreed to respect each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. He added that a similar document was publicized in Prague on October 6.
“We attach importance to the establishment of delimitation and border security commissions. However, this does not mean that there are no borders at all, as some people sometimes try to present,” said Grigoryan. “To insist that borders do not exist is very dangerous and irresponsible. It blurs such fundamental concepts as sovereignty, territorial integrity and paves the way for aggressive actions.”
“Existing CIS and UN documents confirm the fact that the Armenian-Azerbaijani border was already demarcated during the years of the USSR. Therefore, there has been an invasion of Azerbaijani troops into the sovereign territory of Armenia, and these troops must leave the Armenian territory,” insisted Grigoryan.
Armenia’s national security chief also complained at the summit that despite Armenia’s efforts to advance the process of opening transit routes, Azerbaijan continues to raise the issue of opening “transport corridor” through the territory of Armenia.
“There cannot be a road or transport route in the territory of Armenia in the vein of a ‘corridor.’ I have stated this many times and I would like to emphasize once again that there is no reference to such corridors in the trilateral statements of the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan of November 9, 2020, January 11, and November 26, 2021, as well as in the decree of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin No. 695 of November 10, 2020 ‘On measures aimed at maintaining peace in Nagorno-Karabakh.’ Therefore, we consider the arbitrary and false interpretation of the reached agreements unacceptable,” explained Grigoryan.
“The Republic of Armenia is ready to open the roads as soon as possible. Moreover, the draft decision of the Armenian Government to open three checkpoints to ensure transport communication between the western regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Autonomous Republic of Nakhichevan has been in official circulation for a long time,” Grigoryan outlined.
“However, as we can see, the Azerbaijani side is not interested in the real solution of the issue in a constructive way and continues to put forward the ‘corridor’ version of the solution, which is not acceptable for Armenia. In short, it is very difficult to get into dialogue and agree with those who have no desire for dialogue and pursue completely different goals,” said Grigoryan.
