Armenia upbeat about peace talks with Azerbaijan
- 1 November, 12:40
Armenian Foreign Minister has expressed “cautious optimism” over the signing of a final peace agreement with neighbouring Azerbaijan.
“I can speak with cautious optimism that we may soon reach agreement on one or two formulations. After that, the peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan will be ready for signing,” said Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan in parliament on Thursday. Reminding Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s proposal to leave the unresolved proposals and sign the agreement on the provisions agreed upon, Mirzoyan said Azerbaijan was not enthusiastic about this proposal. Now, the sides are focusing on working through “a couple of formulations,” he said.
“Now we have an understanding that there are one-two more [details] around which we will continue the work. This is a normal negotiation process,” the Foreign Minister said. He expressed hope that Baku and Yerevan would soon be ready to sing the peace treaty after agreeing on the contested issues.
Mirzoyan’s statement comes after Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held talks on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Russia’s Tatarstan last week. As a result of the meeting, the two leaders instructed their foreign ministers to work towards finalization of the peace deal in the “shortest possible period.”
Another optimistic comments were voiced by Pasinyan’s Chief of Staff Arayik Harutunyan, who said on Wednesday that Yerevan “sees opportunity” to resolve the outstanding issues in the peace treaty.
In turn, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov told he UK Foreign Ministry official Stephen Doughty that “there is serious progress in the process of negotiations on the peace agreement” and that work was being carried out on the agreement. However, Bayramov reiterated Baku’s position that Armenia’s territorial claims against Azerbaijan voiced in the country’s constitution were the main obstacle for achieving final peace.
