Mirzoyan said this could happen even before the three-year war in Ukraine is brought to a halt.
“Of course, all problems will not be solved by a single document,” he told reporters in Yerevan after talks with Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldcamp. “This could be the beginning, not the end result, of the peace process, and there would remain issues which we would continue settling with joint efforts.”
“These processes could get ahead of or run parallel to the developments unfolding around Ukraine,” added Mirzoyan.
He implied that Armenian and Azerbaijani officials will meet soon to discuss “all matters related to the negotiation, signing, and ratification of that agreement.” But he did not reveal the date and venue of the talks.
The two sides have said that they agree on 15 of the 17 articles of a draft peace treaty discussed by them. Baku responded on February 25 to Yerevan’s most recent proposals designed to bridge their remaining differences. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said the next day that the parties continue to disagree on the two other articles.
The Azerbaijani side wants the two South Caucasus countries to drop international lawsuits filed against each other and ban the presence of third-party monitors or troops on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. It is specifically seeking the withdrawal of European Union monitors deployed in Armenian border areas.
Yerevan has said that it does not object to these demands in principle. Mirzoyan said it has already sent fresh proposals to Baku. He refused to disclose them or even say whether the Armenian government has changed its position in any way.
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov indicated on Tuesday that Baku continues to make the signing of the peace treaty conditional on a change of Armenia’s constitution which it says lays claim to Nagorno-Karabakh. He said “Armenia's armament and the tendency for revanchism” is another obstacle to peace.
Azerbaijan has also been demanding that Armenia open an extraterritorial land corridor to its Nakhichevan exclave. Earlier this month, Pashinian complained about its failure to accept his proposals regarding transport links for Nakhichevan and again suggested that Baku may be preparing the ground to attack Armenia.