Armen Grigoryan: there is agreement to sign peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan by end of year
YEREVAN, October 13. /ARKA/. Armenia has received Azerbaijan’s expanded proposals for a peace agreement and is currently examining them, Secretary of Armenia's Security Council Armen Grigoryan said in an interview with the Public Television of Armenia.
"I hope we will soon respond to these proposals and will have an opportunity to meet and discuss them. They fit into the logic of the five proposals made earlier by Azerbaijan,’ he said.
He said that the issue of Artsakh was not mentioned in those proposals. Grigoryan also noted that there is an agreement to sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan and complete the delimitation of borders by the end of the year.
"By and large, the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan was delimited back in 1929 (when they were Soviet republics). Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia had gone through this process. It remains to come to a joint agreement now that we (Armenia and Azerbaijan) accept that as a basis, to guarantee 29,800 square kilometers of Armenia and move forward," Grigoryan said.
He described the Armenian opposition's accusations that the authorities’ desire for a dialogue between Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and Azerbaijan is an attempt by Armenia to "wash its hands" false.
"We have discussed this issue many times with Stepanakert, and I think this is the best way to find solutions," Grigoryan said, adding that international mechanisms and guarantees are needed on this issue.
"The peace treaty process between Armenia and Azerbaijan is one thing, creating international security guarantees for Karabakh is another," Grigoryan said.
The Security Council Secretary also commented on the Turkish Foreign Minister's statement that Armenia and Azerbaijan had come to an agreement on five points, that the problem is in their implementation and that Armenian-Turkish relations depend on the conclusion of that agreement.
"It has always been said that the Armenian-Turkish settlement should be implemented without preconditions. But Armenia initially said that there is nothing unacceptable for it in the five points (presented by Azerbaijan)," Grigoryan said.
The principles of a peace agreement proposed by Azerbaijan include mutual recognition of sovereignty, territorial integrity, inviolability of each other's state borders; mutual political independence, mutual confirmation of the legal obligation of states not to present territorial claims to each other and not to present such claims in the future; to refrain from threats to each other's security in interstate relations, from threats to political independence and against territorial integrity, and from the use of force and steps inconsistent with the purposes of the UN Charter; demarcation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, establishment of diplomatic relations; opening of transport communications, establishment of other relevant communications; cooperation in areas of mutual interest.
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said earlier: "There is nothing unacceptable in Azerbaijan's proposals. However, the items indicated in the Azerbaijani proposals on concluding a peace treaty do not fully reflect the entire agenda of the existing problems.”
He said for the Armenian side it is fundamentally important that the rights and freedoms of the Armenians of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) are clearly guaranteed, and the status of Nagorno-Karabakh is finally clarified.
"For us, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is not a territorial issue, but a question of rights. As we have already reported, the Armenian side responded to the Azerbaijani proposal emphasizing this position," Mirzoyan said. -0-
