4/3/2024 Armenia/Azerbaijan (International Christian Concern) – Tensions in the South Caucasus remain high as negotiations stall over the disputed territory along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border. Despite the ethnic-Armenian forces within the Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh region surrendering to the Azerbaijani military in September 2023, a formal peace treaty between Baku and Yerevan has not yet been finalized.

On March 16, Azerbaijani officials demanded that Yerevan cede four villages near the Gazakh region in the former’s northwest and the Tavush region in the latter’s northeast. Baku also claims four other villages — three of which are within Armenian territory in the north and the fourth in Armenian territory in the south. 

Azerbaijanis inhabited these eight villages before Armenia took control of the territory during the first armed conflict in the late 1980s/early 1990s. Baku claims that the territory is under Armenian occupation and rightly belongs to Azerbaijan. The disputed territories are valuable to Yerevan because they are located along an economically vital gas pipeline to Russia and strategic roadways connecting Armenia to Georgia in the north and Iran in the south. 

During a visit to the border on March 17, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that his government is prepared to cede the four villages in question, stating that “our policy is that we must not allow war, we must not allow war to start.” Pashinyan stressed that Armenia must cede the territory to Azerbaijan to avert further conflict. 

On the contrary, the government of Azerbaijani President Aliyev has not indicated a willingness to recognize Pashinyan’s claim to a territory of roughly equal size under Azerbaijani control since 2022. 

On March 20, members of the Armenian National Assembly questioned Pashinyan about the disputed territory, noting that Armenia often compromises without receiving concessions from Azerbaijan. Pashinyan responded that his government would not cede its territory, which the Alma Ata Protocol of 1991 recognized. 

International attention to the South Caucasus continues as a delegation of French legislators arrived in Armenia on March 27. Along with the French Ambassador to Armenia, they visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial and Museum in Yerevan. 

On March 28, the French delegation met with Pashinyan, reaffirming support for Armenia from all factions within the French legislature. The meeting covered Armenia-France diplomatic and economic cooperation, the EU monitoring mission in Armenia, Armenia-Azerbaijan negotiations, and the humanitarian concerns in the aftermath of the conflict. 

This follows recent reports from International Christian Concern on the NATO Secretary General’s official visits with the Armenian and Azerbaijani governments to address the regional impact of issues within the South Caucasus. 

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