Armenia has again made an offer to Azerbaijan

RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan suggested to Azeri President Ilham Aliyev that the foreign ministers hold a two-day meeting, agree on one or two articles of the Peace Treaty, and then the leaders of the countries sign the treaty before the COP-29 is held in Baku. Sargis Khandanyan, the chairman of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations of the National Assembly, informed about this, commenting on the recent statements of the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, at the request of "Armenpress".

- Mr. Khandanyan, the President of Azerbaijan on October 14, receiving the newly appointed Ambassador of Belgium to Azerbaijan, announced that it was the Republic of Armenia that refused to continue the negotiations on the Brussels platform. Meanwhile, the Armenian government presented it a little differently.

- To get the answer to that question, we just have to refer to the facts. 2023 In the framework of the summit of the European Political Community held in Chisinau in June, a five-way meeting between French President Macron, German Chancellor Scholz, EU Council President Michel, Azerbaijani President Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan was held as a platform for summarizing the discussions in Brussels. An agreement was reached to hold the next meeting in that format during the European Political Community summit to be held in Granada in October of the same year, after the upcoming tripartite meeting in Brussels. A tripartite meeting was held in Brussels in 2023. on July 15, and Azerbaijan refused to participate in the Granada meeting. Immediately after Granada, EU Council President Michel announced that a meeting of the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan is planned for the end of October, and the parties have already given their consent. However, later the Azerbaijani side refused this meeting as well. On February 2, 2024, in a telephone conversation between Prime Minister Pashinyan and President Michel, the latter proposed to hold a tripartite meeting in Brussels at the beginning of March. It was agreed to hold the meeting on March 12. Later, Azerbaijan also refused that meeting. In April, Charles Michel wrote a letter to the Prime Minister of Armenia and the President of Azerbaijan, proposing to hold a tripartite meeting in Brussels. Prime Minister Pashinyan gave his consent, but the Azerbaijani side refused the meeting. I would like to add that Azerbaijan has not yet fulfilled a number of humanitarian commitments made during the meetings held in Brussels, regarding the release of prisoners of war and other detained persons.

- But Azerbaijan argues that Armenia refused the offer of a meeting within the framework of the European Political Community held in Great Britain in July.

- Armenia did not refuse, but did not consider the meeting in a new format appropriate and offered Azerbaijan to hold a bilateral meeting in Great Britain, which was refused by Azerbaijan, which earlier refused to meet in a five-way format. As far as I know, during the informal contacts held in Moscow on October 7-8, Prime Minister Pashinyan proposed to President Aliyev to have a bilateral meeting. More precisely, it was suggested that the foreign ministers have a two-day meeting, agree on one or two articles of the Peace Treaty that have not been agreed upon, and then the leaders sign the agreement before the COP-29 is held in Baku. To be honest, I am not aware of Azerbaijan's reaction, but I hope this logic will be implemented.