By Astghik Bedevian and Shoghik Galstian
YEREVAN (Azatutyun) — Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan on September 9 declined to clarify whether Azerbaijan has agreed to uphold a 1991 declaration championed by Armenia in a draft peace treaty discussed by the two sides.
Two senior Armenian lawmakers made last week conflicting claims on the treaty’s likely reference to the Alma-Ata Declaration that committed newly independent Soviet republics to recognizing their Soviet-era borders.
Mirzoyan did not shed more light on the matter when he spoke after talks with Luxembourg’s visiting Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel. Echoing Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s recent statement, he said only that Baku and Yerevan fully agree on 13 of the treaty’s 16 articles and are close to reaching a common denominator on the other three.
“We don’t have disagreements on the text anymore,” he told a joint news conference. “The problem is that sometimes the Azerbaijani side tries to include other preconditions or issues in the overall negotiation process. Our approach is that we can sign the agreed text days very soon.”
A separate Armenian-Azerbaijani agreement publicized by the Armenian government on September 2 says that the Alma-Ata Declaration will serve as a basis for the delimitation of the long border between the two South Caucasus states. But it also makes clear that Baku and Yerevan will discard the 1991 document if they agree “in the future” on other principles of delineating the border. Mirzoyan insisted that they are not discussing any such principles at the moment.
