Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has outlined the principles on which peace with Azerbaijan should be based.

Axar.az reports that he made the remarks during a live broadcast on social media.

According to Pashinyan, Armenia should have a territory of 29,743 square kilometers following the signing of a peace agreement. There should be no enclaves or exclaves on either side of the border, and Armenia and Azerbaijan should exchange territories according to their exact respective sizes.

Pashinyan believes all roads and communication routes should remain open, both within the framework of the “Crossroads of Peace” project and beyond it.

He also said that Yerevan and Baku should make no claims against each other and “leave each other alone on all issues.”

“No claims, including those based on the logic of Karabakh, Gardman, Shirvan, Nakhchivan or Western Azerbaijan,” he added.

Following his contacts with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Turkmenistan, Pashinyan said he had gained a preliminary impression that the two countries had an opportunity to establish peace on such terms.

However, the proposal that “Baku and Yerevan should exchange enclaves according to their exact respective sizes” is a deceptive one.

For example, Bashkend, which Armenians claim, is located 18 kilometers from the border in a mountainous area. There is no proper road connecting it to the rest of Armenia, and its population was only 127 people, making the construction of a road costing billions economically unjustifiable. The area also has no strategic significance, yet it covers 40 square kilometers.

Karki, meanwhile, is located eight kilometers from Azerbaijan’s border and has a population of nearly 1,000. It occupies a highly strategic position, as the M-2 highway connecting northern and southern Armenia passes through it. The village covers approximately nine square kilometers.

Similarly, the Azerbaijani villages of Yukhari Askipara, Barkhudarli and Sofulu in Armenia’s Tavush Province are of critical strategic importance from military, geographical and logistical perspectives. The M-1 highway, the main northern route connecting Armenia with Georgia and Russia, passes directly through these villages.

The return of these villages and the securing of access roads to them would provide significant military and political advantages while forcing Armenia to withdraw from certain areas.

From this perspective, Pashinyan’s proposal is unacceptable and fails to take into account the strategic realities on the ground.