The Armenian Foreign Ministry urged Baku to start “consultations on the dates and venue for the signing of the treaty” right after Yerevan accepted Azerbaijani proposals regarding the last remaining differences on its text. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian repeated the appeal multiple times on social media last week.
“Unfortunately … we have always had one step forward and there have always been complications, provocations from the other side,” Deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovannisian told journalists. “Sometimes it was seen as two steps back and so on. We stated that we are now ready to discuss all the processes related to the signing, but there has been no response [from Baku] to that statement yet.”
The Azerbaijani leadership has repeatedly made clear since March 13 that the signing of the peace deal is conditional on a change of Armenia’s constitution and the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorno-Karabakh. The Armenian Foreign Ministry objected to these preconditions on March 19. But two days later, Pashinian indicated plans to ask the OSCE soon to disband the group that was for decades co-headed by the United States, Russia and France.
“Dissolving the OSCE Minsk Group is a negotiable issue that’s on the agenda, and we ourselves will initiate discussing this issue in the near future,” Pashinian told Armenian Public Television.
Pashinian until recently linked the group’s dissolution, which has to be initiated by both conflicting sides, to the signing of the peace treaty. He said such a move should also require Baku to stop referring to much of Armenia’s territory as “Western Azerbaijan.”
Armenian opposition figures say Pashinian’s latest comments herald yet another concession to the Azerbaijani side. They say it will further complicate the Karabakh Armenians’ ability to assert their right to return to their homeland on the international stage.
The draft peace treaty was finalized as a result of two other Armenian concessions. Yerevan agreed to withdraw international lawsuits filed against Azerbaijan and remove European Union monitors from the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
Throughout last week the Azerbaijani ministry accused Armenian forces of violating the ceasefire at various sections of the border. Armenian commentators suggested that the accusations denied by Yerevan are aimed at preparing the ground for military action against Armenia or bullying Pashinian into making further concessions.
