Armenia continues to publicly work towards signing peace treaty with Azerbaijan - Security Council Secretary
YEREVAN, March 20. /ARKA/. Armenia continues to publicly work towards completing the process of signing a peace treaty with Azerbaijan, stated Armen Grigoryan, Secretary of the Armenian Security Council.
“Armenia continues to advance the peace agenda, and since the text of the peace treaty with Azerbaijan has been fully agreed upon, we believe that a meeting should take place for its signing,” Grigoryan said at a briefing on Thursday. He emphasized that the signatures of both countries are necessary to finalize the treaty.
In response to a question about Armenia's actions in the event of a possible attack by Azerbaijan, Grigoryan stated: "Naturally, we will defend ourselves."
He also called Azerbaijan's accusations that the Armenian Armed Forces are allegedly firing at the border false.
“In this context, it is very important that the EU observation mission recently issued a statement about the current situation on the border. The Armenian Ministry of Defense also refuted Azerbaijan's false claims,” Grigoryan emphasized.
The Armenian Ministry of Defense has rejected Azerbaijan's disinformation about shelling at the border allegedly from the Armenian side for the 11th time since March 16.
On the peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan
On March 13, the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that the draft of the treaty "On the Establishment of Peace and Interstate Relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan" had been agreed upon, and negotiations regarding its approval had been completed. The Ministry stated that the document was ready for signing and that Yerevan was prepared to begin consultations with Baku on the timing and location of the signing.
RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan noted that the current content of the draft peace treaty with Azerbaijan represents a mutually acceptable option with concessions from both sides. According to him, two points in the draft agreement—on which the parties had been unable to reach agreement for some time and eventually compromised—concern the non-deployment of third-country forces along the entire length of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, and the mutual withdrawal of claims filed against each other in international courts, as well as the non-implementation of actions against each other. The President of Azerbaijan had also previously pointed out these two disagreements.
