Actually, 29,800 is a rounded figure. The territory of Armenia is a slightly smaller number, says Pashinyan

During a press conference today, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan discussed the ongoing negotiations, stating that the atmosphere in the negotiation room is not very positive and comments might diminish any existing potential for positivity.

“Let me talk about an episode from the previous round that pertains to 29,800 square kilometers. When it came to recognizing each other's territorial integrity during negotiations, Azerbaijan announced that it recognizes Armenia's territorial integrity and has no territorial claims. Why does this conversation continue? For a simple reason: In the Brussels negotiation room, the question arose regarding what Azerbaijan means by saying Armenia's territorial integrity. What does Armenia mean by saying Azerbaijan's territorial integrity? During this discussion, it developed to the point where there might be objective data to reference,” Pashinyan remarked.

He continued, “The idea was generally observable and debatable. We said, ‘Very well, but wait a minute, what number?’ Imagine the tension where the parties need to state, ‘The territory of our country is this much.’ An idea arose to then announce the figure fixed in the last publication of Soviet encyclopedias. That data was conveyed to the President of the EU Council, and he made those numbers public. Later, it became clear that the figure 29,800 is rounded, and within the text, there is another number: 29,743 square kilometers. Moreover, the Azerbaijani side drew our attention to the fact that on the websites of Armenian state bodies, the area of Armenia is written as less than 29,800. The same applies to Azerbaijan, where the number is also rounded. Discussions surrounding these figures led to certain tensions,” the Prime Minister concluded.