Pashinyan said Armenia is ready to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan

Armenia is ready to recognize the 86,600 km² territory of Azerbaijan, including Nagorno-Karabakh, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during a press conference on May 22. He emphasized that this is possible if international guarantees are provided for the security of the Armenian population in the region.

According to Pashinyan, in this case, Baku should recognize the territorial integrity of Armenia's 29,800 square kilometers. This area includes the territories occupied by Azerbaijan, including the village of Artsvashen in the Gegharkunik region.

"The security issues of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh should be discussed between Stepanakert and Baku, and we believe it is important to create international guarantees. What do we mean by that? We mean that, for example, the issue of security and rights of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh may be forgotten, and Azerbaijan will continue to pursue its policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide, and we consider it important to have international guarantees," Pashinyan said.

According to him, before the meeting in Washington in early May, the Armenian side handed over amendments to the text of the peace agreement to the Azerbaijani side.

"If Azerbaijan passes us its version in a few days, and in a few days we will see that the document corresponds to the logic of mutual concessions, then why not, the agreement can be signed during the next meetings," Pashinyan said.

The prime minister also did not rule out that Armenia could de jure terminate or suspend its participation in the CSTO.

"This is possible if Armenia states that the CSTO has withdrawn from Armenia," Pashinyan said, referring to the organization's failure to fulfill its obligations.

"In this case, the status of a CSTO member gives us nothing and will only prevent us from discussing the security agenda with other countries. Do you think Armenia has not received other offers to purchase arms from other countries? Of course, it did, and these opportunities were not realized mainly because of Armenia's membership in the CSTO," Pashinyan said.

Since mid-December, Karabakh has remained under a blockade organized by Azerbaijan, and the unrecognized republic has experienced acute shortages of food and medicine, with regular interruptions in electricity, gas, and the Internet.

In April, Azerbaijani troops, in violation of the November 2020 Tripartite Statement, set up checkpoints in the Lachin corridor, which is in the area of responsibility of Russian peacekeepers.

In February, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, where Armenia filed a lawsuit, ordered Azerbaijan "to take measures at its disposal to ensure the unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and goods through the Lachin corridor in both directions." Baku ignored the court's decision.