Bayramov: Armenian-Azerbaijani delimitation commission to be headed by Deputy Prime Ministers

Baku/10.05.22/Turan: One of the agreements reached after the April 6 meeting in Brussels between the President of Azerbaijan, the Prime Minister of Armenia and the Head of the EU Council was to establish a commission to implement border delimitation.

This was stated by Foreign Minister Ceyhun Bayramov, answering questions from journalists on May 10.

According to him, the first meeting of the commission was planned to be held by the end of April. "I had two phone conversations with the Armenian Foreign Minister afterwards before the meeting took place. During the phone conversations we made our proposals on the composition of the commission. Given a number of peculiarities and differences in the process of delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border from the delimitation process with other neighboring countries, our proposal was that the commission should be organized in a different format, it should be led at a higher level."

The Minister noted that the proposal of the Azerbaijani side was that the person heading the commission should be at the level of Deputy Prime Minister. "I'd like to note that during my first phone conversation the Armenian Foreign Minister took this with understanding as saying that more time was needed to discuss this in Armenia. Subsequently, the Armenian side also accepted this proposal as acceptable to them. There is an agreement between the sides on the composition of the commission. However, as we have noted, the first meeting has not yet taken place. The Azerbaijani side was already ready for this meeting in April, so we are ready again".

The Foreign Minister added that the Azerbaijani side submitted the basic principles of the peace treaty to Armenia back in February. "And the Armenian side said that there is nothing unacceptable for them in these basic principles."

According to the Minister, there were reports later Armenia put forward 6 proposals in response to Azerbaijan's 5 proposals for the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. "Probably everyone has seen the document mentioned by the Armenian side, because they disseminated it in an open form. However, looking at the document it cannot be said that it is a proposal. When this document was presented, the Armenian side expressed it as a response to the Azerbaijan's proposals."

The Minister stressed that one of those 6 points is a question as to why the Azerbaijani side presented the basic principles dated February 21 to Armenia in early March. "We stated that the proposals were presented with the help of mediators. For this reason it'd more correct if the issue had been addressed to them. The next point is that Armenia has no territorial claims against Azerbaijan, and back in 1992 as CIS members, Azerbaijan and Armenia recognised each other's territorial integrity. In a certain sense this is a repetition of the basic principle proposed by Azerbaijan."

Bayramov noted that one of the items in the proposals focuses on the importance of implementing the trilateral statements signed by the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia. "And this is not an issue. The next point is that the Armenian side is ready to negotiate and appeals to the co-chairs of the Minsk Group to organise these talks. This comes at a time when there is no communication between the Minsk Group co-chairs against the backdrop of Ukrainian events. We can say that this group is paralysed".

Asked about the activities of peacekeepers in Karabakh, the Minister replied that the peacekeepers are carrying out their functions. "Naturally, there are some issues that still remain concerning the presence of Armenian military units in Karabakh, the illegal entering of those territories. In this case they become a subject of discussion. The Azerbaijani side stands up for the resolution of issues in this plane".
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