Friday, March 24 2023 13:27

ArmInfo.After the war in 2020, for the last two years the Armenian government, having the political will to find a real lasting and comprehensive peace in our  region, has been engaged in talks with Azerbaijan in good faith,  Armenia's FM Ararat Mirzoyan said in an interview with the Egyptian  AlQahera News agency. 

"There are separate tracks of negotiations: first, the opening of all  transport communications in the region, second, delimitation and  border security and the third, the treaty on establishment of  peaceful relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

"Regarding the connectivity issue, our position is clear: Armenia is  ready to open all communications at the very moment when Azerbaijan  accepts that the roads should be operating under the sovereignty and  jurisdiction of the states they are passing through. With regard to  delimitation of borders, regrettably, months after the establishment  of the commissions on the delimitation of borders in 2022, Azerbaijan  not only raised new territorial claims, but also launched another  invasion into the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia and  then tried to justify its aggression with a fake argument that the  border is not delimited.

"Coming to the agreement on establishment of peaceful relations, I  should mention that since December 2022 we have exchanged proposals  on the draft treaty and tried to move ahead with the process to find  fair solutions to the core issues.

"Here, among Armenia's suggestions is clarification of parameters for  the delimitation of the state border, as we think that without  clearly agreed parameters on the delimitation of the international  borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan, countries cannot specify  which territorial integrity they mutually recognize, and this will  lead to another fighting instead of establishing peace.

"Next is the distancing of forces from the state border and the  creation of a demilitarized zone along the borderline as a  confidence-building measure and security mechanism, helping to ensure  prevention of any possible future escalation. We also believe that  the treaty should establish a mechanism of guarantees, which will  ensure the implementation of the obligations, as well as outline ways  of resolution of possible misinterpretations and disputes.

"Of course, as a key component, there should be an international  mechanism to address the issues of rights and security of the  Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.

"Unfortunately, in response to our efforts we face not only the  dismissive and maximalist approach by Azerbaijan during the  negotiations, but also aggressive actions on the ground despite the  ongoing negotiations. Most recently, following the ceasefire  violations on March 2-3, three servicemen of the Police of the  Nagorno-Karabakh were killed in the Lachin corridor on March 5 as a  result of a pre-planned ambush by Azerbaijan. These actions once  again demonstrate the lack of sincerity in Baku's approach to the  normalisation process as well as continuous recourse to use of force.

"In parallel to these actions, Azerbaijan regularly steps back from  agreements, continues its hate speech and xenophobic rhetoric, as  well as rejects to resolve humanitarian issues such as the release of  confirmed 33 Armenian prisoners of war who are still held hostage in  Azerbaijan. The fate of many more Armenians is still unknown, and we  have submitted to our partner organizations cases of enforced  disappearances. The Armenian religious and cultural heritage, fallen  under the Azerbaijani control in 2020, is facing an imminent threat  of total erasure. All this is challenging the efforts towards  establishing lasting peace and stability in the whole region," Mr  Mirzoyan said.