“We have already reached a process of delimiting and even demarcating the [Armenian-Azerbaijani] border,” Aliyev reportedly told an international conference in Italy.
“It’s a small step: a 13-kilometer section [of the border] has been delimited, we have a 1,000-kilometer-long border with Armenia,” he said, referring to four disputed border areas which Yerevan controversially ceded to Azerbaijan this spring. “But it’s a step in the right direction and we hope that this Azerbaijani initiative on peace negotiations will lead to the signing of the peace treaty.”
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said August 31 that the two sides fully agree on 13 of the 17 articles of the draft treaty. He proposed that they sign an interim deal containing the agreed articles and “continue discussing all remaining issues.”
Pashinian did not reveal those outstanding issues. In his speech at the conference, Aliyev likewise did not shed light on the remaining disagreements.
Azerbaijan rejected Pashinian’s proposal on Monday, with Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov saying that the framework deal proposed by Yerevan lacks several “important provisions.” Bayramov and Aliyev’s top foreign policy aide, Himet Hajiyev, also reiterated that Armenia must change its constitution before it can make peace with Azerbaijan. An Armenian pro-government parliamentarian accused Baku of “torpedoing the peace process.”