Russia welcomes Azerbaijan's and Armenia's readiness to start negotiations on peace treaty
YEREVAN, March 17. /ARKA/. Russian Foreign Ministry welcomed today the readiness of Azerbaijan and Armenia to start negotiations on a peace treaty.
“We welcome the readiness of Azerbaijan and Armenia to start preparing a peace treaty and reaffirm our determination to assist the negotiation process in every possible way,” Russian Foreign Ministry's official representative Maria Zakharova said at a press briefing on Thursday.
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan noted in a recent interview that 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.
On March 14 the Armenian Foreign Ministry applied to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship to organize negotiations on the signing of peace agreement between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan on the basis of the UN Charter, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Helsinki Final Act.
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. -0-
