BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 10. Agreements were reached on certain items of the peace treaty [with Armenia] in Washington negotiations, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov told reporters, Trend reports.
According to Bayramov, the negotiations on the peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia took place in the US. The initiatives related to the peace treaty were put forward by Azerbaijan. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev announced this for the first time in 2021. In February last year, Azerbaijan put forward 5 basic principles, and finally, in October 2022, negotiations on the peace treaty began in Geneva.
"The negotiations were conducted around the final expanded basic principles presented by Azerbaijan. Then the meeting was held in Washington in November. A meeting in Moscow was scheduled for December. The Armenian side refused the third meeting, boycotting it under various pretexts. Questions related to the Lachin Road were given as a pretext. Thus, these meetings have not been held for about 6 months," the FM said.
Bayramov pointed out that with the mediation of the US, Armenia returned to the negotiating table.
"We had quite intensive discussions about the peace treaty for 4 days in Washington. They covered a number of important issues. We cannot talk about full agreement, there are enough differences between the positions of the Azerbaijani and Armenian parties," he added.
He also noted that agreement was reached on certain paragraphs of the peace treaty during these negotiations. "We have taken another step forward. Likewise, we must approach this process realistically. It would be good to coordinate all the issues at one meeting, but there is no readiness for this yet. Azerbaijan constantly demonstrates its commitment to the peace process," he said.