It was Edmon Marukyan, Armenia's ambassador with special assignments, who responded to the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, which stated that the meetings in Prague and Sochi did not specify what maps should be used to delimit the borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Edmon Marukyan touched on the topic in response to Armenpress's question.

-Mr. Marukyan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, responding to the interview given by the Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan to the "Armenpress" agency, stated that in the statements following the Prague and Sochi summits, it was noted that the border delimitation should be carried out by the UN Charter and the Alma-Ata Agreement. by the declaration. Still, they need to mention what maps this should be based on. Meanwhile, at the same time, the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan declares that there are Azerbaijani villages under the control of Armenia. How would you interpret this statement?

- The officials of Azerbaijan should decide on an issue. Does a border exist between Armenia and Azerbaijan or not? They claimed during the aggressions unleashed against Armenia on May 12, 2021, and September 13, 2022, and the occupation of the sovereign territories of Armenia that the border is not delimited and there is no border, and now How do they claim that there are Azerbaijani territories that are under the control of the Republic of Armenia? By making such a claim, the Azerbaijani side admits that there is a clear border between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Armenia's position regarding the state border is clear and derives from international law. That is, there is an Armenia-Azerbaijan state border, based on the Alma-Ata Declaration and the protocols attached, the parties reaffirmed the recognition of this border during the quadrilateral meeting in Prague on October 7, 2022, and the trilateral meeting in Sochi on October 31, 2022.

Having recorded the existence of the state border, we have repeatedly stated that about 70 percent of the arable land of several villages in the Tavush region of Armenia, Berkaber village, and a large part of Jrambar, about 70 percent of the arable land of the Paravakar village, and the arable land of the towns of Aygehovit and Vazashen have been occupied by Azerbaijan since the 90s until now. From. Armenia will be consistent in that the mentioned territories are also returned.

As for the issue of the maps regularly uploaded by Azerbaijan, as there is no mention of clear maps in the announcements, and it is not clear with which maps the boundary should be carried out, here again, the Azerbaijani side is contradicting itself. With the declaration of Alma-Ata and the protocols attached to it, by mutual recognition of each other's borders, Azerbaijan closed the subject of manipulation of maps because it is clear that we are talking about the administrative boundaries of the republics of the Soviet Union. Therefore, here too, it is not possible to claim that yes, we recognize the territorial integrity of Armenia with the Alma-Ata Declaration and the protocols attached to it but then continue the vague talk about historical maps.

- In the created situation, what position has the Republic of Armenia adopted, on what basis should it move forward, and what kind of solutions do you see?

-Armenia has repeatedly officially responded and proposed to ensure that there are no occupied territories along the entire border and proposed solutions for a mirror retreat along the wall and creating a demilitarized zone. Still, in response to these solutions, the Azerbaijani side did not return its troops until May 12, 2021. locations and then disregarding the ongoing work of the commissions dealing with border demarcation and border security issues, unleashed new aggression on September 13 of this year, as a result of which new territories were occupied from the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia.

Summarizing what has been said, I must emphasize that the fundamental question here is that Azerbaijan cannot claim that we have a clear border in all cases when an attempt is made to present the history of the territories of Azerbaijan under the control of Armenia, and when unleashing aggressive war operations against Armenia and territories while occupying, to claim the opposite, that there is no border and it is subject to differentiation.

All the proposals presented by Armenia are valid. In case of the presence of the political will of Azerbaijan, guided by the Alma Ata declaration and the protocols attached to it, based on the administrative borders of the republics of the Soviet Union, it is necessary to move forward and quickly demarcate the mutually recognized state borders, which will have a positive effect on peace. Before signing the contract.