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Armenia ready to conditionally accept Karabakh as Azerbaijani territory: PM

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's comments follow mediation efforts under the European Council as part of a push for normalisation of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

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Nikol Pashinyan and Ilham Aliyev have held several rounds of talks, generally organised by the EU or Russia. / Photo: AA

Armenia's prime minister has said that Yerevan is ready to recognise Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, provided that the security of the Armenian population in the region is ensured.

"Armenia recognises Azerbaijan's 86,600 square kilometres assuming that Azerbaijan is willing to recognise the territorial integrity of Armenia's 29,800 square kilometres. Azerbaijan's 86,600 square kilometre territory includes Nagorno-Karabakh," Nikol Pashinyan said on Monday during a press conference in the capital Yerevan.

Pashinyan’s comments came a week after he participated in talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev under the mediation of European Council President Charles Michel in Brussels.

Relations between the two former Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Karabakh, a territory internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan and seven adjacent regions.

In the fall of 2020, in 44 days of clashes, Azerbaijan liberated several cities, villages and settlements from Armenian occupation. The Russian-brokered peace agreement was celebrated as a triumph in Azerbaijan.

Blinken says Azerbaijan, Armenia made 'tangible progress' in peace talks

Exiting Russia-led military bloc?

Pashinyan further said that Armenia’s potential withdrawal from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) remains on Yerevan’s agenda, but only if the organisation becomes "incompetent."

"If Armenia de jure decides to withdraw from the CSTO, then this will happen after Armenia records that the CSTO has left Armenia. Such an agenda exists if the CSTO becomes an inactive organisation. Then we will have to decide our own security issues," Pashinyan added.

The CSTO is an intergovernmental military alliance in Eurasia consisting of six post-Soviet states: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan.