“I think that Azerbaijan should return to the negotiation table in the format of meetings. We have already said that most of the job has been done, and now we need to meet and agree on the final wording of key issues,” he said, referring to a peace treaty discussed by Baku and Yerevan.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev twice cancelled talks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian which the European Union planned to host in October. The peace accord was due to be their main focus.
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov similarly withdrew from a November 20 meeting with Mirzoyan that was due to take place in Washington. Baku accused the Western powers of pro-Armenian bias and proposed direct negotiations with Yerevan.
Bayramov reiterated that offer on Monday when he spoke during a meeting in Brussels of the foreign ministers of EU member states and several former Soviet republics. He did not hold talks with Mirzoyan on the sidelines of the meeting.
Mirzoyan indicated on Wednesday that Yerevan still prefers Western mediation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiation process.
“Our negotiations in the last two or three years have been bilateral and facilitated by international actors. We believe that we should carry on like this,” he told a joint news conference with Estonia’s visiting Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna.
“Like I said, most of the job has been done, and if we return and continue with the same mechanisms we will succeed in quickly achieving results. The missing component … that would complete the whole process and bring it to a logical end is the political will of Azerbaijan’s leadership which may and may not be demonstrated,” added Mirzoyan.
Baku cancelled the Washington meeting in protest against what it called pro-Armenian statements made by James O’Brien, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia. O’Brien met with Aliyev and Bayramov in Baku last week. He said he told them that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken “looks forward to hosting foreign ministers Bayramov and Mirzoyan in Washington soon.” No agreement on the talks has been announced so far.
Armenian officials suggested earlier this year that Aliyev is reluctant to sign the kind of peace deal that would preclude Azerbaijani territorial claims to Armenia. The Azerbaijani leader claimed late last month that Yerevan itself is “artificially dragging out the process.”