Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia, Edward Asryan, on Tuesday confirmed to reporters the reports about cutting down trees by Azerbaijani military in Syunik Province and the presence of their bases in the reserve.

Asryan noted that both the prime minister and the defense minister of Armenia, and he personally have repeatedly stated that they are working towards resolving this issue through border delimitation.

He officially confirmed that Azerbaijani military personnel are deployed on the territory of Armenia, in the area of the Nerkin Hand village and the Zangezur biosphere complex. Asryan said that during the equipping of their military positions and the creation of infrastructure, the Azerbaijani side is cutting down trees in the protected zone, adding that the Armenian side only records these actions and reports them “through appropriate political channels.”

“If these enclaves are included in the 29,743 square kilometers of the Republic of Armenia, not a single millimeter of land will be given up,” said Edward Asryan, referring to the topic of border delimitation and the fate of Armenia’s border settlements.

He noted that during the Soviet period, both Armenians and Azerbaijanis historically lived in these territories, which include about 18 areas stretching from south to north.

The chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia added that the General Staff is guided by the accurate maps at its disposal, but avoided answering questions about the mechanisms for actually pushing the adversary back from Armenia’s sovereign territories, and only said that Armenia must strengthen by its own efforts, rather than rely on third countries.