Armenian Foreign Minister says 15 out of 17 articles of draft peace treaty with Azerbaijan agreed upon

YEREVAN, 9 December. /ARKA/. Fifteen out of 17 articles of the draft peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan have been agreed upon, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said in an interview with Finnish news agency Lännen Media.

‘I believe that we could have finalised and signed the treaty even before the COP29 climate summit in Baku. Unfortunately this did not happen, but now we are ready to do it in a short time. One can say that this is a moment of hope. I would say we are very close (to it). Despite the tragic past of our two states and societies, there is a chance to turn the page. The past has been difficult. It is difficult to accept, forget, forgive, but enough blood has been spilled in our region and now we have a chance to look into the future,’ Mirzoyan said.

According to him, in general, there is a border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. It is based on the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration, which was signed by the former Soviet republics and turned their administrative borders into state borders. Of course, the commissions of the two countries should work together on further delimitation and demarcation of their border.

The minister called the demarcation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border a guarantee of future stability.

‘As far as any guarantees are possible these days, having a clearly delimited border is a very strong mechanism,’ Mirzoyan said.

Regarding the opening of transport links between the two countries, the minister noted that Armenia and Azerbaijan can come to solutions that will be acceptable to both sides.

‘We can organise the passage of Armenian goods through the territory of Azerbaijan and, vice versa, the passage of Azerbaijani goods through the territory of Armenia. At the first stage, we can resume railway transit and gradually expand it,’ Mirzoyan said. -0-