Azerbaijan continues setting preconditions - Armenian FM

ArmInfo.The Peace Agreement, which was initialed by the Azerbaijani minister and myself. So we are ready: the text was finalized earlier this year in March, now it is initialed, and we are ready to sign the Treaty as soon as possible. 

The Azerbaijani side has some preconditions for it, we don't share  this agenda.  Nevertheless, not even waiting for the final signing  ceremony of this Peace Treaty, there are also processes that can take  place and are taking place even before this. For instance, we  discussed the possibility of being more tolerant to each other or  even cooperating on international fora, international platforms,  Armenian FM Ararat Mirzoyan stated in an interview with the  Poland-based TVP World channel. 

"After decades of conflict. You can imagine what a burden is now  accumulated on different platforms, different documents, conventions,  where we have special opinions etc.

"We jointly applied to OSCE structures with a request to close the  structures of the Minsk process. So it's already a step which has  been implemented.

"Also, there is the delimitation of the state border. It started long  ago. We have already delimited 12 kilometers of the border. And we  visit the village, for instance, the Armenian village on this part of  the border, we see that the village is flourishing. There is a new  school, people feel more secure, feel safer, there is no security  concern among the population, villagers. So there are processes that  are taking place currently, and there are things which are to come,"  Mr Mirzoyan said. 

Speaking of the challenges? Mr Mirzoyan said: 

"Well, you know, during the decades of conflict, there is also a huge  psychological burden. There is the history and the memory of the  blood on both sides. There is cautiousness among citizens, I believe,  on both sides. So the reconciliation will take time, I believe. The  peace, as I said, is established, but it needs some care, I would  say, everyday care from both sides. And here I should, I have to  mention that aggressive rhetoric from either side is not supporting  at all." 

As a reminder, on August 8, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan  and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a joint "Declaration of  Peace" in Washington. It includes a joint appeal to the Organization  for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to terminate the OSCE  Minsk Process and related structures, as well as the creation of a  transport corridor through Armenian territory that will connect  Azerbaijan with its Nakhchivan exclave. The TRIPP (Trump Route for  International Peace and Prosperity) project, a 42-kilometer road in  southern Armenia whose management will be entrusted to the United  States for a period of 99 years, is believed by experts to have the  potential to significantly change the geopolitical situation in the  South Caucasus.