“The Secretary recognized ongoing progress by Armenia and Azerbaijan toward a peace agreement and underscored the significance of concluding an agreement without delay,” the U.S. State Department spokesman, Matthew Miller, said in a statement on the call. “He reiterated the United States remains willing to support further engagement in any way useful to the parties.”
Aliyev was reported to reiterate, for his part, that the signing of the peace treaty is conditional on Armenia changing its constitution and other laws which he said contain territorial claims to Azerbaijan.
Aliyev and other Azerbaijani officials have singled out the constitution’s preamble that mentions a 1990 declaration of Armenia’s independence. The declaration in turn cites a 1989 unification act adopted by the legislative bodies of Soviet Armenia and the then Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry rejected the Azerbaijani precondition earlier this month, accusing Aliyev of “torpedoing the peace process.” It argued that one of the “agreed provisions” of a draft peace deal discussed by Baku and Yerevan stipulates that the parties cannot use their domestic legislation for not complying with the document.
Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan complained about Baku’s stance during a visit to Lithuania on Thursday.
“We are ready to conclude the treaty during the upcoming month as we have already proposed,” he said. “Unfortunately, we have not been hearing from the Azerbaijani side so far. Moreover, Azerbaijan is bringing up new issues, which at least raises questions about their sincerity towards the final goal of establishing peace in our neighborhood and broader region.”
On Wednesday, Mirzoyan’s ministry claimed that Azerbaijan may be planning to unleash a “new aggression” against Armenia after hosting the COP29 summit in November. It pointed to Baku’s angry reaction to the latest French-Armenian arms deal signed in Paris.