Ambassador Armen Papikyan touched upon the encroachment of Azerbaijan on the sovereign territory of Armenia

24 may, 2022

On May 13, at the session of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, under the item "Current Issues" of the agenda, the Delegation of Armenia to the OSCE presented the item "Incursion by Azerbaijan into the sovereign territory of Armenia.”

The Permanent Representative of the Republic of Armenia to the OSCE, Ambassador Armen Papikyan briefed the OSCE participating States on the incursion of the armed groupings of Azerbaijan into the direction of the Syunik region of Armenia on May 12. He noted that Armenia considers these actions as an encroachment on its sovereign territory aimed at creating new hotbeds of tension along the Armenian state border, as well as exerting a psychological pressure on the Armenian civilian population living in the border area.

Ambassador Papikyan also informed that the Armenian Government is trying to resolve this situation through negotiations to avoid further escalation and casualties. At the same time, Ambassador Papikyan stressed that Armenia will not tolerate such a provocative policy of Azerbaijan.

Then, the Ambassador of Armenia noted that the actions of Azerbaijan were preceded by the bellicose statements of the President of that country containing territorial claims towards Syunik region, up to the threat of use of force.

The Permanent Representative of Armenia also informed that “against the backdrop of this latest provocative actions of Azerbaijan, military exercises will be held in that country, without prior notification and in violation of the provisions of the Vienna Document 2011. Unnotified military exercises conducted by Azerbaijan in recent years twice have resulted in the use of force against Artsakh in 2016 and 2020…”

In conclusion, Ambassador Papikyan called on the OSCE participating states to respond appropriately to such belligerent actions of Azerbaijan, noting that such gross violations of international law by Azerbaijan pose a serious threat to regional peace and security.

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