Azerbaijan on Monday rejected Armenia for suggesting signing a long-awaited peace deal based on previously agreed-upon principles for being “unrealistic.”
Speaking at a ceremony in Baku, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that the Armenian government's proposal to sign such a deal with provisions that have yet to be agreed upon is unprecedented, according to an Azerbaijani presidential statement.
During the occupation of the Karabakh region, one of the primary provisions agreed upon as part of peace treaties proposed by the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) Minsk Group was that "nothing could be agreed upon without all issues being agreed upon," Aliyev was quoted as saying in the statement.
"This was the position of the then-co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Armenia and Azerbaijan and we continue to hold it. Unfortunately, some former Minsk Group members have changed their positions and now support Armenia's current unrealistic proposal," Aliyev added.
He also argued that while Yerevan has shown its willingness to promote peace by putting forth such proposals, Armenia is aware that these proposals will not be accepted.
"Despite all of this, the process continues," Aliyev said, stressing that negotiations between the two countries have been ongoing for two years and that patience, realism, and a commitment to peace in the South Caucasus region are required.
After a series of slow-moving negotiations, Azerbaijan rushed in troops last year September and swiftly seized back Karabakh, whose entire population of nearly 120,000 people returned to Armenia after rejecting a reintegration program Baku offered.
Baku and Yerevan are currently working to sign a peace treaty, which they say is 80% complete, including border delineation, to end the decadeslong dispute over the enclave, but there are still several stumbling blocks in negotiations,
The talks have been tense, with both nations in recent weeks accusing the other of not being interested in signing a treaty to end their more than three decades of conflict that started before the two countries gained their independence from Moscow.
Despite Aliyev’s rejections, Armenia has expressed hope that Azerbaijan will sign 16 of the articles in the treaty before the COP29 climate change conference that Baku is hosting on Nov. 11-22.
The agreed articles contain internationally accepted core provisions for establishing diplomatic relations. They also stipulate the mechanism that enables both sides to continue negotiations, among other provisions, according to a speech made by the Armenian prime minister last month.
Azerbaijan has said Armenia must change its constitution to remove indirect references to Karabakh's independence before signing a peace treaty.
Earlier this year, Armenia withdrew from several Azerbaijani villages it controlled since the early 1990s as part of the peace process.
