FM: Armenia ready to unblock transport links with Azerbaijan on sovereignty principle

Armenia is ready to open communications with Azerbaijan based on sovereignty, legitimacy, equality and reciprocity principles.

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan made the remarks at a briefing after a meeting with UK Deputy Minister for Europe Leo Docherty, Caliber.Az reports, citing Armenian media.

Asked about the results of his meeting with Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov in Moscow on May 19, the minister reiterated Armenia's readiness to build a lasting and decent peace in the South Caucasus.

The Armenian foreign minister recalled intensive meetings between the sides in Washington, Brussels and Moscow.

He underlined some progress in the American capital as it was possible to agree on two more articles of the treaty.

"For several more, I hope, and this is not only my assessment, there is a chance to come to an agreement. But there are articles where the positions of the parties are very far away, they relate to the most difficult issues," the minister stated.

Timeline

May 1- 4: Mirzoyan and Bayramov held four-day peace talks facilitated by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in Washington.  These talks, which represent the longest round of negotiations since the end of the Second Karabakh War in 2020, marked the third such ministerial meeting between Armenia and Azerbaijan as mediated by the United States since September 2022.

May 14: A trilateral meeting took place between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, EU Council President Charles Michel and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Brussels. This was the first time the two leaders met in person since talks in Munich in February and after the two countries' foreign ministers' extensive discussions in Washington in early May.

After the Brussels talks, Charles Michel stressed that both sides recognised each other’s territorial integrity on the basis of the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration. Moreover, Michel’s statement also explicitly specifies the square kilometre area of both countries. This means Armenia has officially recognised the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast as part of Azerbaijan. On May 22, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan reconfirmed in Yerevan that his country recognises Azerbaijan within a territory of 86,600 square kilometres, including Karabakh and some enclaves.

May 19: Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Armenia counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan met in Moscow. After the meeting of the two ministers, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Armenia and Azerbaijan are close to agreeing an end to a blockade of transport links but more work is needed to seal a peace deal between the two countries.

May 25: Russia brokers the next meeting between Azerbaijan and Armenia in Moscow on May 25. Pashinyan said he had agreed to peace talks in Moscow on May 25 with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Russian President Vladimir Putin mediating.