Armenian, Azerbaijan to organize border delimitation commissions`  meeting late this month   

ArmInfo. On January 4, the Armenian side responded to the Azerbaijani side's proposals for a peace treaty. There is agreement to hold a meeting of delimitation  commissions at the end of January, Secretary of the RA Security  Council Grigoryan stated this in an interview with the Public  Television of Armenia.

At the same time, he expressed hope that this meeting will take place  at the end of January. "We responded to the proposals of the  Azerbaijani side within two weeks. Now we are waiting for  Azerbaijan's response.  We also assess the dynamics of the  negotiations as positive. However, there are issues on which we  agreed during oral negotiations, but saw regression in the text of  the peace agreement. We expect that the peace treaty will be  finalized as soon as possible. What is on the negotiating table and  what Armenia offers create security guarantees for Armenia," he said,  while refusing to indicate in which issues there is regression,  citing on negotiation ethics.

In response to the remark that the opposition criticized the text of  the so-called peace treaty, Grigoryan assured that the peace  agreement, if signed, would be fully consistent with the interests of  Armenia. "There cannot be a document that contradicts the interests  of the Republic of Armenia so that we are ready to sign it," he  noted.

According to him, the goal of the negotiations is to achieve peace  between Armenia and Azerbaijan. "What is on the negotiating table and  what Armenia offers creates security guarantees for Armenia," said  the official.

In response to the presenter's remark that, according to the Armenian  opposition, with this agreement Azerbaijan is trying to consolidate,  capitalize what it has achieved by force and whether this is true,  the Secretary of the Security Council avoided a direct answer,  assuring that the purpose of the agreement is to create conditions  for the peaceful coexistence of Armenia and Azerbaijan. "Neither  Armenia nor Azerbaijan have territorial claims against each other.  And this is an important condition for signing a peace agreement. And  Armenia is moving along this path," he said.

Grigoryan added that the Azerbaijani side verbally affirms that it  accepts the four principles of the Republic of Armenia: sovereignty,  jurisdiction, reciprocity and equality. "Fixing these four principles  means abandoning any idea of corridor logic," the Secretary of the  Armenian Security Council emphasized.

Speaking about the territory of Armenia in kilometres, Grigoryan  again distorted the essence of the Alma- Ata Declaration of 1991.  According to him, the Alma-Ata Declaration states that post-Soviet  countries recognize each other's territorial integrity within the  administrative borders of the Soviet Union, which was enshrined in  Brussels in a statement by the President of the European Council.  Meanwhile, in reality, the Alma-Ata Declaration states that states  recognize each other's territorial integrity within the current  borders - at the time of signing, and not about any 29,800 square  meters. km and there is no mention in this declaration.

Regarding the issue of the return of prisoners of war and detainees,  the Secretary of the Security Council noted that negotiations are  ongoing and expressed hope that this issue can be resolved before the  signing of a peace treaty.

He also again spoke about the need for a mirror withdrawal of troops,  delimitation and demarcation of borders according to the latest maps  of the USSR General Staff (1974-1978).

As to how realistic it is to sign a peace agreement in conditions  when the Azerbaijani parliament accepts a statement on returning to  "Western Azerbaijan" (to the Republic of Armenia - ed.), the Armenian  official noted that such statements contradict peaceful logic and  represent territorial claims against the Republic of Armenia ( above,  he assured that the parties have no territorial claims against each  other - ed.). "We expect that there will be no more similar steps in  Azerbaijan," he noted.

Speaking about the goals of the visit of the American co-chair of the  OSCE Minsk Group to the region, Grigoryan emphasized that the mission  of Bono's visit is to continue trilateral negotiations in Washington  and actively move forward in the process of finalizing and signing a  peace treaty. "In addition, we discussed other issues regarding  Armenian-Azerbaijani relations," summarized the Secretary of the  Armenian Security Council.