Delimitation and demarcation of Armenian-Azerbaijani border cannot be completed before the end of the year – committee chairman
YEREVAN, October 27. /ARKA/. The process of delimitation and subsequent demarcation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border cannot be completed before the end of the year, Andranik Kocharyan, the chairman of an Armenian parliamentary committee on defense and security issues from the ruling Civic Contract party said today.
"Nonetheless, the process is underway and time constraints should not be an obstacle. You know we have such a problem with another neighbor (apparently Georgia) and it has been going on for decades," he said.
According to the lawmaker, it is important that both sides (Armenia and Azerbaijan) agree that the process is lengthy and unhindered, and if time limits are set, the process will not move forward.
"The main thing is to have a document on internationally recognized borders on our table in order to be able to solve delimitation and demarcation problems within its framework," he stressed.
Kocharyan stressed that delimitation and demarcation issues are related to the peace treaty, but do not have to be resolved simultaneously.
Another MP from the Civil Contract Sarkis Khandanyan specified that the intention is to complete only the delimitation process by the end of the year, while demarcation is a completely different and longer process.
On Wednesday, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told in parliament that he wants to sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan by the end of the year. He said the Armenian authorities hope that the delimitation will be completed before signing the peace treaty.
The third meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani border delimitation commission will be held in the first week of November in Brussels. Their first and second meetings were on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and in Moscow.
On October 6, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, French President Emmanuel Macron and European Council President Charles Michel held a meeting in Prague on the sidelines of the European Political Community Summit.
In a statement adopted at the end of the meeting, Armenia and Azerbaijan confirmed their commitment to the UN Charter and the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1991, through which both sides recognize each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty. -0-
