Armenia: Pashinyan proposes an enclave swap with Azerbaijan, “not a single square kilometre less”

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan proposed settling the enclave question on the border with Azerbaijan through an exchange of territory of exactly equal size. In a video posted on Facebook on Wednesday, October 14, he said that after the peace agreement “there should be no enclaves or exclaves on either side of the border”, and that the two countries should swap territory of precisely matching size.

Pashinyan links the issue to the signing and ratification of the peace treaty, which was initialled at the Washington summit in 2025 but has not been signed. He proposed that Armenia’s territory be 29,743 square kilometres, as defined on the basis of the Alma-Ata Declaration, that transport links remain open, even through the territory of the other country, and that both sides renounce every claim. He said that from his contacts with Ilham Aliyev in Turkmenistan he has a “preliminary impression” that such a peace is feasible.

On Thursday, October 15, at a briefing, Pashinyan clarified that there is no agreement yet, but “there is an understanding”. He named the villages of Kyarki, Barkhudarly, Sofulu and Askipara, Azerbaijani enclaves controlled by Armenia, as well as Artsvashen, an Armenian enclave inside Azerbaijan that Baku has controlled since 1992 and which, in his words, “must be part of Armenia”. He presented no maps, areas or swap plan.

What Simonyan and Mirzoyan say

Security Council Secretary Alen Simonyan said on Friday, October 16 that “Artsvashen is Armenian territory and the Azerbaijani side has also recognised it”, and that “Artsvashen is slightly smaller in area than the three Azerbaijani enclaves”. “We must carry out the delimitation so that there is no deviation from the 29,743 square kilometres. We will neither increase it nor reduce it,” he said, adding that “no territory has been ceded by Armenia and none will be ceded”.

Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan noted that transferring territory to another state in exchange for other territory requires a referendum.

The enclaves in numbers

According to EVN Report, the Azerbaijani enclaves inside Armenia cover about 45 square kilometres in total and Artsvashen 40 to 42. Kyarki, which Armenians call Tigranashen, came under Armenian control in 1990, and Barkhudarly, Sofulu and Yukhari Askipara (Verin Voskepar) in 1992. Armenia had already returned four exclave villages to Azerbaijan in May 2024.

Azerbaijani analysts see a “logical basis” in the idea of an exchange, but reject Artsvashen remaining in Armenia, since the village lies 7 to 8 kilometres inside Azerbaijani territory. Baku has not responded officially. Aliyev, who recently left Russia off his list of global superpowers, has previously demanded the return of all territories that were Azerbaijani in the Soviet era. The peace process began with the agreement mediated by Donald Trump and the TRIPP corridor.