Azerbaijani FM: Armenia's proposals are a reaction to proposals presented by Baku

During the last meeting of Ilham Aliyev and Nikol Pashinyan in Brussels, an agreement was reached on the first meeting of the bilateral commission on the delimitation of the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia by the end of April. The time is up and there still has not been any meeting. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov spoke about the reasons for the delay. Regarding the issue of Yerevan’s six proposals on Baku’s five principles for the start of peace talks, the Foreign Minister said: “They cannot really be called proposals”.

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At a trilateral meeting of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and President of the Council of the European Council Charles Michel on April 6 in Brussels, an agreement was reached on the establishment of a bilateral commission to delimit the state border between Azerbaijan and Armenia. It was also announced that the first meeting of the commission will be held before the end of April 2022. It’s almost the middle of May, but there hasn’t been any meeting yet.

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About bilateral commission

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, answering journalists’ questions about the delay in holding a meeting of the bilateral commission, said:

“After that, I had two telephone conversations with the Armenian Foreign Minister before the meeting took place. During telephone conversations, we made our proposals on the composition of the commission. Taking into account a number of features, and differences between the process of delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border from the process of delimitation with other neighboring countries, our proposal was that the commission on the proposal of Azerbaijan should be organized in a different format, it should be led at a higher level”.

According to Bayramov, Azerbaijan proposed that the status of the person heading the commission should be at the level of a deputy prime minister.

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“During my first telephone conversation, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia accepted this with understanding and said that additional time was needed to discuss this in Armenia. Subsequently, the Armenian side accepted this proposal and referred to it as “acceptable”. There is an agreement between the parties on the composition of the commission. However, as we noted, the first meeting has not yet taken place. The Azerbaijani side was ready for this meeting in April, and we are ready now”.

About 6 proposals in response to 5 principles

The Azerbaijani Foreign Minister said that the Azerbaijani side presented the main principles of the peace treaty to Armenia in February 2022.

“And the Armenian side stated that there is nothing in these basic principles that is unacceptable to them”, Bayramov added.

According to the minister, later there were reports that Armenia put forward six proposals in response to Azerbaijan’s five principles for the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict:

“Probably everyone saw the document released by Armenia, because it was distributed openly. However, looking at the document, one cannot say that these are proposals. When this document was presented, the Armenian side described it as a reaction to the proposals of Azerbaijan”.

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The minister stressed that one of these 6 points was the question – “Why did the Azerbaijani side present to Armenia the basic principles dated February 21 in early March?”

“We stated that the proposals were submitted with the help of intermediaries. For this reason, it would be more correct if this question was addressed to them. The next point is that Armenia has no territorial claims against Azerbaijan, and back in 1992, being a member of the CIS, Azerbaijan and Armenia recognized each other’s territorial integrity. In a certain sense, this is a repetition of the basic principle proposed by Azerbaijan”, Bayramov said.

The Minister noted that one of the points of the proposals notes the importance of fulfilling the tripartite statements signed by the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia:

“The next point is that the Armenian side is ready for negotiations and to organize these negotiations, it appeals to the co-chairs of the Minsk Group. This is happening at a time when, against the background of the events in Ukraine, there is no communication among the co-chairs of the Minsk Group. We can say that this group is paralyzed”.

About peacekeepers in Karabakh

The Azerbaijani Foreign Minister answered a question from journalists about the actions of the Russian peacekeeping contingent temporarily stationed in Karabakh.

“Naturally, from time to time some questions arise that are still connected with the presence of Armenian military units in Karabakh, and illegal visits to these territories. In this case, they become the subject of discussion. The Azerbaijani side is in favor of resolving issues in this area”, said Jeyhun Bayramov.