YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Armenia has responded to a new proposal from Azerbaijan by requesting international mediation for peace talks, official Yerevan said on March 14.
In a statement made last Friday a spokesman for Armenia’s Foreign Ministry said that official Yerevan considered requesting that the co-chairs of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group (the United States, France, and Russia) initiate peace talks between Yerevan and Baku.
Later that day, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said that Baku had passed to Yerevan a new “five-point proposal” for the normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia. He said that Baku was awaiting an answer from Yerevan.
“We have recently sent a new proposal to Armenia as a sign of goodwill. We have proposed some fundamental principles that include the normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia. We expressed our readiness to develop relations on the basis of certain principles. Armenia should consider this and give its answer. If Armenia sincerely wants to normalize relations, then this is a very good opportunity for them. ”Armenia’s response will be known in the near future, and of course we will take appropriate steps,” Bayramov said, as quoted by Azerbaijani media.
“All the principles mentioned in this document are the principles of international relations,” the Azerbaijani minister added, noting that the proposal includes the issue of border demarcation as well.
In a statement issued on March 14, Armenia’s Foreign Ministry said: The Republic of Armenia responded to the proposals of the Republic of Azerbaijan and applied to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship to organize negotiations for the signing of peace agreement between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan on the basis of the UN Charter, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Helsinki Final Act.”