Armenia, Azerbaijan To Start Talks On Peace Treaty
Armenia and Azerbaijan will start substantive negotiations on a bilateral peace treaty when their foreign ministers meet in Geneva on Sunday, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Friday.
“The negotiations and contacts could result in something acceptable to us,” he told Armenian Public Television. “If it’s acceptable to us we will sign it.”
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Pashinian reiterated that Azerbaijan must recognize Armenia’s current borders through such an accord. Baku has still not expressed readiness to do so, he said.
Addressing the UN General Assembly in New York last week, Pashinian said that Baku is pushing for the kind of a treaty that would not prevent it from claiming or trying to occupy more Armenian territory.
Azerbaijani leaders have indicated, for their part, that the treaty should commit Yerevan to recognizing Azerbaijani sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Pashinian was again vague on the possibility of such recognition which has prompted serious concern from the Armenian opposition and Karabakh’s leadership.
“There is an idea that the peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan must be separated from the Karabakh issue,” he said. “Our view is that there may be no reference to the Karabakh issue in the peace treaty.”
