Azerbaijan rejects maps from 70s for Armenia border delimitation

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said that Baku categorically rejects Yerevan’s proposal that the delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border should be carried out on the basis of maps from 1975, Interfax reports.

Aliyev maintained in an interview with Azerbaijani TV channels on Wednesday, January 10 that the last time “Azerbaijani lands were transferred to Armenia was in May 1969.”

“If we talk about political foundations, then the starting point should be either the period of establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, or the period of Sovietization. This is a political methodology. If we prefer chronological methodology, then let’s look at what maps there were at the beginning of the 20th century, and build our work on these maps,” he said.

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said in late December that the peace treaty should contain a concrete mechanism for delimiting the Armenian-Azerbaijani border such as Soviet military maps printed in the 1970s. Back then, his Azerbaijani counterpart insisted on delinking the border issue from the treaty. He also said that the signing of the treaty depends on the “political will” of the Armenian side.