Armenia and Azerbaijan Agree on Peace Treaty

Earlier this year, Aliyev renewed his threats to open the corridor by force. Armenian opposition leaders and other critics of Pashinyan say that the treaty would not preclude such military action.

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan insisted that the treaty does not call for any extraterritorial transport links for Nakhichevan. He also admitted that he “will not answer all possible questions.”

“But this agreement provides for mechanisms that we and Azerbaijan can use after the agreement enters into force to resolve issues and finally normalize relations,” he added without elaborating.

The key question now is when the agreement might be signed.

Still, observers hailed the agreement as representing significant progress toward peace.

“This is an unprecedented breakthrough in what was deadlocked diplomacy,” said Richard Giragosian, director of the Regional Studies Center, an independent think tank based in Armenia.

Given how long it will take to meet Azerbaijan’s final demands, they should not be prerequisites for signing the peace treaty but rather a matter for further discussion, Giragosian added. “Both sides [should] sign the peace treaty and continue talks,” he said, though noted that skepticism remained a barrier. There is a degree of wariness in Armenia that this may be too good to be true. There are expectations that Azerbaijan may actually continue to demand more concessions.”

The two countries have yet to negotiate when and where the peace deal will be signed. Armenia proposed issuing a joint statement following the agreement of terms but Baku declined, Armenia’s Foreign Ministry said.

World Leaders React

France’s President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the announcement, writing on the platform formerly known as Twitter that “there are now no remaining obstacles to the signing of a peace treaty … which should pave the way for a lasting peace in the South Caucasus.”

But in a hint at enduring tensions, Armenia criticized Azerbaijan for making a statement unilaterally rather than issuing a joint one.

Armenia last year suspended its participation in the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) over the bloc’s failure to come to its aid in the conflict with Azerbaijan.

One key issue was “non-deployment of third-party forces” along the countries’ shared border, he said.

There were also disagreements over plans for both sides to mutually withdraw legal cases from international judicial bodies.

The United States has praised Armenia and Azerbaijan for concluding negotiations on a “historic peace treaty,” marking a significant step toward ending decades of hostilities between the two nations.

“The United States commends Armenia and Azerbaijan for concluding negotiations on a historic peace treaty,” said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a statement.

“This is an opportunity for both countries to turn the page on a decades-old conflict in line with President [Donald] Trump’s vision for a more peaceful world.

In a Telegram post, the Armenian government said Pashinyan, had informed Russian President Vladimir Putin about the peace agreement during a telephone conversation.

In a statement, the Kremlin confirmed Pashinyan’s conversation with Putin, saying that the Russian president stressed that “Russia has always supported and continues to support the normalization of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations in the interests of ensuring security, stability, and sustainable socio-economic development in the Transcaucasian region.”

Putin said that “Both Armenia and Azerbaijan can always count on any possible assistance from the Russian side in achieving these goals.”

In his statement, Rubio urged both sides to “commit to peace, sign and ratify the treaty, and usher in a new era of prosperity for the people of the South Caucasus.”

The European Union also urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to sign the treaty as soon as possible after congratulating them on the peace agreement.

Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, commended both sides for their persistent work and said that the announcement of the peace agreement “represents a decisive step toward lasting peace and security in the region.”

Opposition Rejects ‘Another Capitulation To Azerbaijan’

Armenia’s leading opposition groups condemned Pashinyan on Friday, March 14, for making more concessions to Azerbaijan to finalize a bilateral peace deal which they say will not resolve the long-running Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

“These authorities have agreed to everything that was demanded by Azerbaijan,” said Artur Khachatryan, a senior lawmaker from the opposition Hayastan alliance. “Now these authorities are blackmailing the people of the Republic of Armenia and all Armenians, saying that if we suddenly did not submit to Azerbaijan’s demands, there would be war.”

The second parliamentary opposition force, the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), decried Pashinyan’s “unilateral anti-state concession” and “double capitulation” to Baku. It demanded that the authorities immediately publicize the text of the draft treaty.

In a written statement, the party headed by former President Serzh Sarkisian at the same time said, “Nikol Pashinyan does not have the mandate and legitimacy to sign such agreements on behalf of the Armenian people.”

“If [Pashinyan] had said in the 2021 elections that he would cede Artsakh and recognize it as part of Azerbaijan, that ethnic cleansing and genocidal action would take place [in Nagorno-Karabakh,] how many people would have voted for him?” argued Hayk Mamijanyan, the HHK’s parliamentary leader.

“I consider this an extremely important milestone in the normalization of relations and the establishment of peace in the region around us, around Armenia,” the minister told lawmakers.

Mirzoyan said Yerevan now expects to start “as soon as possible” consultations with Baku on when and where to sign the negotiated treaty.

The two countries have been locked in legal battles at the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court and the European Court of Human Rights over allegations of rights violations committed before, during and after their armed conflicts.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought a series of conflicts in recent years, with an Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh last September forcing the region’s 100,000 residents to flee.

(Reports from Politico.eu, France 24, RFE/RL and Azatutyun were used to compile this piece.)