Armenia proposes simultaneous peace deal with Azerbaijan, OSCE Minsk Group dissolution

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has proposed that Yerevan and Baku sign a peace agreement and dissolve the OSCE Minsk Group on the same day.

Armenia is ready to sign a peace deal with Azerbaijan and simultaneously dissolve the OSCE Minsk Group, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told lawmakers on April 15, framing the move as a symbolic conclusion to the protracted dispute over Karabakh, Caliber.Az reports via Russian media.

“We understand Azerbaijan’s position on the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group,” Pashinyan said in parliament.

“If we are indeed closing the page on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict — and we are — then why maintain a format that was created to resolve it?”

The Minsk Group, co-chaired by the United States, France and Russia, was established in the 1990s to mediate the conflict over Karabakh — a region internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but formerly controlled by ethnic Armenians. Its role has significantly diminished in recent years, particularly after the 2020 war and subsequent diplomatic efforts led by Moscow and Brussels.

Pashinyan noted that while the Minsk Group had a “broader context,” Yerevan wants to ensure that Baku does not interpret its dissolution as shifting the conflict onto Armenian territory. “We propose signing the peace agreement and dissolving the Minsk Group on the same day,” he added.

However, Baku remains sceptical. Azerbaijani officials have repeatedly stated that peace is only possible after Armenia amends its constitution, which they say still contains territorial claims against Azerbaijan.

The dissolution of the Minsk Group has also been a longstanding demand of Azerbaijan, which views the body as obsolete following the 2020 war that ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire and the return of territories to Azerbaijani control.

Azerbaijan has also insisted that normalisation can only move forward if Armenia fully abandons any claims on its territory — something Baku says must be reflected in both legal documents and constitutional reforms.

By Aghakazim Guliyev