“We expect Armenia to fulfill its commitments in this regard,” Bayramov said, referring to the extraterritorial corridor sought by Baku.
Azerbaijani leaders regularly accuse Yerevan of not complying with a relevant provision of a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement that stopped the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani war in Nagorno-Karabakh. The clause commits Armenia to opening rail and road links between Nakhichevan and the rest of Azerbaijan.
The Armenian government insists that it does not stipulate that people and cargo transported to and from Nakhichevan must be exempt from Armenian border checks. It says that Baku has ignored its unpublicized compromise proposals on the issue made in recent months.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev implicitly threatened in January this year to open such a corridor by force. Baku raised more fears of such military action in March just days after the two sides essentially finalized a draft Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty.
Bayramov reiterated Baku’s preconditions for signing the treaty: a change of the Armenian constitution allegedly containing territorial claims to Azerbaijan and the dissolution of the Minsk Group that had long been co-headed by the United States, Russia and France.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has said that Yerevan is ready to ask the OSCE to disband the group right after the signing of the peace deal. Pashinian has also pledged to try to enact a new Armenian constitution through a referendum expected in 2026.
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan again complained about the Azerbaijani preconditions when he spoke to journalists in Yerevan on Friday.
“Unfortunately, we are hearing different statements from the Azerbaijani side,” said Mirzoyan. “There is no progress yet but there is a conversation, and as with any negotiation, let's be patient, maybe there will be good news in the near future.”
The statement prompted concern on Monday from Armenian opposition leaders. They suggested that Pashinian’s government may be secretly planning to make further unilateral concessions to Baku.
“Every time Armenia’s rulers say that they are expecting good news it’s a reason for patriots to get nervous because good news for them [the Pashinian government] cannot be good news for Armenia and its citizens,” said Hayk Mamijanian of the opposition Pativ Unem bloc.
Hasmik Hakobian, a lawmaker representing Pashinian’s Civil Contract party, insisted that Yerevan’s position on the Azerbaijani demands has not changed. But she would not say what the ongoing contacts between Baku and Yerevan cited by Mirzoyan are all about.