Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has mentioned that whereas Yerevan and Baku have agreed on fundamental rules for a peace treaty, the 2 sides are ”nonetheless talking completely different diplomatic languages” in talks.
Addressing the autumn session of the Parliamentary Meeting of the Group for Safety and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) that opened in Yerevan on November 18, Pashinian lamented that Azerbaijan has but to publicly commit to 3 rules for attaining peace that he mentioned have already been agreed upon.
Pashinian additionally mentioned the shortage of dedication deepens the ambiance of distrust and that rhetoric from Azerbaijani officers leaves open the prospect for renewed ”army aggression” in opposition to Armenia.
”Yerevan and Baku nonetheless converse completely different diplomatic languages,” he mentioned, including that ”we frequently don’t perceive one another.”
Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev had held a number of rounds of peace talks below EU mediation earlier than Baku launched a lightning offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh that ended three a long time of rule by ethnic Armenians within the disputed territory.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two wars within the final three a long time over the area, which had been a majority ethnic-Armenian enclave for the reason that Soviet collapse and is internationally acknowledged as Azerbaijani territory.
The area initially got here below the management of ethnic-Armenian forces, backed by the Armenian army, in separatist combating that resulted in 1994.
Throughout a conflict in 2020, nevertheless, Azerbaijan took again components of Nagorno-Karabakh together with surrounding territory that Armenian forces had claimed through the earlier battle.
After a cease-fire settlement was shortly reached between ethnic-Armenian forces and Azerbaijan following Baku’s offensive in September, almost 100,000 ethnic Armenians fled to Armenia as Baku took management of the entire of Nagorno-Karabakh.
”We’ve good and dangerous information in regards to the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace course of,” Pashinian was quoted as saying.
”It’s good that the fundamental rules of peace with Azerbaijan have been agreed upon,” he mentioned, referring to 3 rules for peace that he introduced in late October had been labored out throughout talks with Aliyev in Brussels that had been mediated by European Council President Charles Michel.
These rules, he informed the Armenian parliament on the time, had been: Armenia and Azerbaijan recognizing one another’s territorial integrity, that the delimitation of the nations’ borders be based mostly on the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration, and that regional commerce, transport, and communication be opened whereas respecting sovereign jurisdictions.
The draw back is that by not acknowledging the settlement, Pashinian mentioned, Baku was deepening the ambiance of distrust.
Pashinian additionally accused Azerbaijani officers of calling Armenia ”Western Azerbaijan.”
”This appears to us to be a preparation for a brand new conflict, a brand new army aggression in opposition to Armenia, and it is without doubt one of the primary obstacles to progress within the peace course of,” Pashinian mentioned.
The Armenian prime minister’s feedback got here after Baku mentioned on November 16 that it might not take part in normalization talks on the foreign-minister stage with Yerevan that had been deliberate in the US this month.
The Azerbaijani International Ministry mentioned the choice was in response to what it referred to as ”one-sided and biased remarks” made by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs James O’Brien in opposition to Azerbaijan.
In September, Baku withdrew from two conferences deliberate by the European Union. The identical month Aliyev refused to attend a spherical of negotiations with Pashinian that had been to be mediated by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and the EU’s Michel.
Baku cited France’s allegedly ”biased place” in opposition to Azerbaijan as the rationale for skipping these talks in Spain.
In the course of the OSCE Parliamentary Meeting session in Yerevan on November 17, Armenian parliament speaker Alen Simonian mentioned there was a historic alternative to determine peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Simonian additionally mentioned Armenia is sincerely focused on normalizing relations with Turkey, having open borders and transportation hyperlinks within the area, and interesting in negotiations with out preconditions.
“I’ve an excellent hope that these negotiations will yield the specified leads to the close to future,” Simonian mentioned, stressing that the area wants peace.
On November 17, OSCE Parliamentary Meeting President Pia Kauma welcomed Armenia’s expressed curiosity in reaching a cope with Azerbaijan.
“You will need to keep momentum within the peace course of and for Armenia and Azerbaijan to achieve a full settlement,” Kauma mentioned. “We acknowledge that the background may be very painful, however regardless of the difficulties, this second ought to be seen as a possibility for all to forge a brand new path for the area based mostly on peaceable coexistence, mutual safety, and financial prosperity.”