Tensions have run high at several sections of the long border where Azerbaijani forces reportedly advanced a few kilometers into Armenian territory in mid-May. Armenia has repeatedly demanded their unconditional withdrawal. Azerbaijan maintains that its troops took up new positions on the Azerbaijani side of the frontier.
Russia proposed later in May that Yerevan and Baku set up a commission on border delimitation and demarcation. President Vladimir Putin reiterated late last month Russian offers to act as a mediator in such talks with Soviet military maps at its disposal.
“As long as there are no [border] delimitation negotiations it is too premature to speak about what maps and documents we will be guided by,” Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Vahe Gevorgian told reporters. “When such negotiations start we will address those issues.”
The Aliqmedia.am news service reported last week that that Putin will host fresh talks between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on November 9 on the first anniversary of a Russian-brokered ceasefire that stopped the war in Nagorno-Karabakh. Citing unnamed Armenian diplomatic sources, the publication claimed that Aliyev and Pashinian will sign two documents envisaging the demarcation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and its opening for cargo traffic.
Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan did not rule out afterwards the possibility of an Armenian-Azerbaijani summit while saying that it is not planned yet. His Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov said on Thursday that he has “no information” about such an encounter.
Aliyev complained, meanwhile, that Yerevan has still not responded to Baku’s proposals to sign an Armenian-Azerbaijani “peace treaty” and start demarcating the border on the basis of recognizing each other’s territorial integrity.
Armenian leaders have repeatedly called for demarcation talks. The secretary of Armenia’s Security Council, Armen Grigorian, said last week that Yerevan is still awaiting “positive signals on that score from Azerbaijan.”