FM: Azerbaijan-Armenia peace talks to be based on five key principles
Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov has said that the Azerbaijan-Armenia peace talks will be conducted on the basis of five basic principles put forward by Baku, Trend has reported.
Bayramov said that Azerbaijan has outlined its basic principles and stated its willingness to continue working on a peace treaty according to these principles, the report added
He reminded that back in February, Azerbaijan offered five basic principles of the peace agreement to Armenia, and the latter stated that there is nothing unacceptable for it in the proposals.
The minister highlighted that one of the agreements, reached during the Brussels meeting (April 6), was the formation of a commission on border delimitation, of which the first meeting was scheduled for the end of April.
Bayramov had two phone conversations with his Armenian counterpart prior to the Brussels meeting, as a part of which proposals for the commission's composition were made.
"Azerbaijan's proposal was that the commission should be organized in a different format, that is, the person who will head it from our side should be at the level of a deputy prime minister. We should also note that during our first telephone conversation, the Armenian foreign minister accepted this with understanding and said that additional time was needed for discussions at home,” he added.
“Later, the Armenian foreign minister stated that such a proposal would be acceptable for them as well. There is an agreement between the sides on assembling the commission. Azerbaijan was already ready to hold this meeting in April. I think that after the Armenian side completes its own procedures, it will be possible to hold such a meeting," Bayramov added.
Commenting on recent protests in Armenia, the minister stressed that those who plan and lead the protests in Armenia live in illusions.
These individuals, he claimed, have been making false promises to Armenians for 30 years, and they have now pushed Armenia to the brink of disaster.
He added that this appears to be an intrinsic element of the struggle for power and that they want to come to power again using the "Karabakh problem".
“Naturally, Azerbaijan follows these processes and we are not talking about broad public support for the protests. The number of people following them does not exceed 6,0000 to 7,000 people. This once again indicates that the Armenian society is tired of these false promises and illusions," Bayramov emphasized.
Furthermore, he underlined that the Russian peacekeepers, who were temporarily deployed in Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region, are performing their duties in line with the trilateral statement, signed between Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Russia in November 2020.
"Of course, some questions arise periodically, mainly related to the presence of Armenian armed forces in the Karabakh region and illegal visits to these territories. The issue is raised and discussed in such cases, both at the command level of the peacekeepers and at other levels. Azerbaijan is committed to resolving issues in this area," Bayramov added.
For the normalization of relations with Armenia, Azerbaijan has proposed the following principles:
- Mutual recognition of each other's sovereignty, territorial integrity, international border inviolability, and political independence;
- Mutual confirmation of the absence of territorial claims by states against one another, as well as a legal obligation to refrain from making such claims in the future;
- Refrain from threatening each other's security in interstate relations, from using threats and force against political independence and territorial integrity, and from acting in ways that are inconsistent with the goals of the UN Charter;
- Delimitation and demarcation of state borders, as well as the establishment of diplomatic relations;
- The establishment of other relevant communications and cooperation in other areas of mutual interest, as well as the opening of transport and communications.
A Moscow-brokered ceasefire deal that Baku and Yerevan signed on November 10, 2020, brought an end to six weeks of fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani army declared a victory against the Armenian troops. The signed agreement obliged Armenia to withdraw its troops from the Azerbaijani lands that it has occupied since the early 1990s.
The peace agreement stipulated the return of Azerbaijan's Armenian-occupied Kalbajar, Aghdam and Lachin regions. Before the signing of the deal, the Azerbaijani army had liberated around 300 villages, settlements, city centers, and historic Shusha city.
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