Ara Ayvazyan: The Armenian authorities present the Alma-Ata Declaration as the Gospel

The Alma-Ata Declaration cannot serve as a basis for the so-called delimitation process since it does not have a cartographic description, Ara Ayvazyan, the former Armenian Foreign Minister and co-founder of the Pan-Armenian Council of Diplomats, told Alpha News.

“We, the Pan-Armenian Council of Diplomats, have made two statements regarding the delimitation and demarcation of the border. In the first statement, we say that the Alma-Ata Declaration cannot be the basis for the so-called delimitation process since it does not have a cartographic description. Yesterday, we talked in more detail and noted that there are two legal processes. The first is that there are maps that were ratified by the Supreme Councils of the Armenian and Azerbaijani Soviet Republics, and the second is a summary of the work done over this period. This process took place during 1983–1988, and a huge amount of work was done,” Ayvazyan said.

He emphasized that the Armenian authorities present the Alma-Ata Declaration as the Gospel.

“The Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union made a decision, resulting in the joint work of the commissions of the two countries, village elders, and other experts. I have seen the results of this work; 182 protocols were drawn up. All this was sent to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union, and in 1988, the cartography department published a map. Now our authorities present the Alma-Ata Declaration as the Gospel, but there is one detail. When the USSR collapsed in 1991 and 15 union republics became independent states, it was natural that they could have problems drawing borders. So, why has none of these countries mentioned the Alma-Ata Declaration during all this time?” Ayvazyan concluded.