The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan signaled no further progress towards a peace deal between the two nations after holding fresh talks in Istanbul on Friday.
In a short statement, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov “agreed to continue efforts to finalize and conclude the agreement in a short period of time.†It gave no details of the talks held after a ministerial meeting of the “Consultative Regional Platform 3+3†comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia and Turkey.
Bayramov and Mirzoyan already pledged to “put additional efforts towards the conclusion of the Agreement on Peace and Establishment of Interstate Relations in the shortest possible period†during their previous talks hosted by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in New York on September 26. The two sides do not seem to have moved closer to such an accord in the following weeks.
Baku has since continued to reject an Armenian proposal to sign an initial agreement that would leave out their remaining sticking points. It has insisted that any peace deal with Yerevan is conditional on a change of Armenia’s constitution which it says contains territorial claims to Azerbaijan. Bayramov reaffirmed this precondition in his speech at the 3+3 meeting held earlier in the day.
On Tuesday, a senior Armenian lawmaker said Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian proposed to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev earlier this month that their foreign ministers hold two-day intensive talks to “agree on one or two articles of the peace treaty that have not been agreed upon†and sign the deal before next month’s COP29 summit in Baku. The Azerbaijani side did not confirm the proposal or react to it otherwise.
Another parliamentarian representing Pashinian’s Civil Contract party claimed on Wednesday that Baku is rejecting Armenian peace proposals in possible preparation for a new military aggression against Armenia.
Russia, Turkey, Iran Offer To Broker Armenia-Azerbaijan Deal
Russia, Turkey and Iran have offered to help Armenia and Azerbaijan finalize a bilateral peace agreement, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday after a meeting of the top diplomats of the five states.
The multilateral meeting took place in Istanbul within the framework of the so-called “Consultative Regional Platform 3+3†launched in December 2021 in Moscow. Georgia boycotts the platform due to continuing Russian occupation of its breakaway regions.
“We, the Turks and the Iranians offered our colleagues, Yerevan and Baku, to use the 3+3 platform to complete the work on a peace treaty,†Lavrov told a news conference after the meeting.
He said in this context that he “reminded†the Turkish, Iranian, Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers of the “groundwork†for delimiting the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, opening it to commerce and settling other issues which was laid during Russian-mediated talks held by Baku and Yerevan in 2021-2023.
Armenia’s reaction to the proposal revealed by Lavrov was not clear. The Armenian Foreign Ministry did not immediately answer a relevant question from RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Amid its mounting tensions with Moscow, Yerevan has repeatedly declined in recent months Russian offers to help resolve the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said in late August that he prefers direct negotiations with Baku. His domestic critics have denounced this negotiating strategy, saying that it only helps the Azerbaijani side clinch unilateral Armenian concessions.
In his speech at the Istanbul meeting, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan did not directly mention Armenian-Azerbaijani contacts on the peace treaty. Instead, Mirzoyan presented Yerevan’s position on creating transport links between Armenia and Azerbaijan and in the region as a whole. They should be based on “respect for the sovereignty and jurisdiction of all states as well as equality and reciprocity,†he said.
“I am glad to stress that this [Crossroads of Peace] initiative has been welcomed by many of our partners, and Iran was among the first ones,†added Mirzoyan.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov reiterated Baku’s demands for a change of Armenia’s constitution. He said this is a necessary condition for not only the Armenian-Azerbaijani settlement but also “lasting peace in the region.â€
Turkish, Armenian FMs Meet Again
Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan called for the implementation of Turkish-Armenian interim agreements to normalize bilateral relations when he met with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan in Istanbul on Friday.
The two men held talks there after a multilateral meeting of the foreign ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia and Turkey that took place within the framework of the so-called “Consultative Regional Platform 3+3.â€
“The Ministers discussed issues on the bilateral agenda and the ongoing Armenia-Turkey dialogue aimed at full normalization of relations,†read an Armenian Foreign Ministry statement on the talks. “Minister Mirzoyan reaffirmed the importance of implementation of the agreements reached in the process.â€
The agreements were reached by Armenian parliament vice-speaker Ruben Rubinian and senior Turkish diplomat Serdar Kilic in July 2022 after several rounds of negotiations. They called for the opening of the border for Armenian and Turkish diplomatic passport holders as well as citizens of third countries. Rubinian complained earlier this year that the Turkish side has taken no steps to implement it.
Speaking at the 3+3 meeting earlier in the day, Mirzoyan stressed that Armenia “has already finalized the construction and technical equipment of the Margara border checkpoint on the Armenia-Turkey border.”
Ankara has for decades made the opening of the border and establishment of diplomatic relations with Yerevan conditional on a resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict acceptable to Baku. Turkish leaders stuck to this condition even after the start of normalization talks with the current Armenian government in early 2022.
They have also said that an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal should call for a land corridor through Armenia to Azerbaijan’s Nakhichevan exclave. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in July that an agreement on the corridor would be the “final step†in the resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.
The Armenian government has ruled out any extraterritorial corridors to Nakhichevan that would pass through Syunik, the only Armenian region bordering Iran.