Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has proposed that Armenia and Azerbaijan eliminate enclaves and exclaves through exchanges of equally sized territory as part of a future peace settlement.
Pashinyan outlined the proposal during a social-media livestream on October 14, according to APA. The remarks were first summarized in Russian by Vesti Baku.
He said Armenia’s internationally recognized territory should total 29,743 square kilometers after a peace agreement and border delimitation. Pashinyan argued that no enclaves or exclaves should remain on either side of the border and that the two countries should exchange territory of equivalent size.
Roads and Mutual Claims
The Armenian prime minister also called for all roads and communications to be opened, both within and beyond Armenia’s Crossroads of Peace initiative.
He said Baku and Yerevan should make no territorial claims against each other, including claims framed around Karabakh, Girdman, Shirvan, Nakhchivan or Western Azerbaijan.
Pashinyan said he had reached this view of a possible peace after recent contacts with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Turkmenistan.
The statement does not mean that the two governments have agreed on specific parcels of land or finalized an exchange. Any border adjustment would require separate negotiations and formal agreement by both sides.