Azerbaijani official: Baku and Yerevan not far from signing peace agreement

(Patria) - Azerbaijan and Armenia are not far from concluding a peace agreement, and Baku believes that result-oriented actions are needed, said Azerbaijani special presidential representative Elchin Amirbayov, reported by TASS news agency.

“What is important to understand is that, at this crucial stage of negotiations, where we are obviously not so far from a final agreement, we need a result-oriented exercise,” Amirbayov said.

Amirbayov said that Azerbaijan proposed five basic principles that formed the basis of the draft peace agreement: mutual respect for territorial integrity, sovereignty and inviolability of internationally recognized borders, renunciation of any territorial claims against each other now and in the future, renunciation of any actions contrary to the UN Charter such as the use of force or threats, delimitation between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and opening transport links between the two countries.

Baku also wants the agreement to provide some kind of dispute resolution mechanism, the Azerbaijani presidential spokesman emphasized.

“Our preference would be to have peace agreements. An article that would speak about some kind of bilateral commission, which should be formed to resolve all those misunderstandings or differences in interpretation between us,” he specified.

Referring to the issue of unblocking roads, Amirbayov stressed that transport links between the main mainland of Azerbaijan in the east and its exclave of Nakhchivan in the west, which must pass through Armenia, are crucial for Baku in terms of national security, as well as providing an alternative route within the Middle Corridor (Trans-Caspian International Transport Route).

“Of course, we cannot force Armenia to implement what they have committed to, and it is pointless to suggest that we would invade to impose this corridor by force or similar. Therefore, we have turned to Iran as a Plan B to build a road and railway connection through Iran,” Amirbayov said.

He added that the existence of an alternative route could “force Armenia to realize how much it could lose if it continues to resist the connection passing through its territory.”