Armenia Links Minsk Group Issue To Signing Peace Treaty With Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev recently stated that Armenia is refusing to jointly apply for the dissolution of the Minsk Group. The group was established in 1992 to advance international mediatory efforts to achieve a negotiated peace for the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, to be dissolved.

Meanwhile, among other things, Azerbaijan is demanding that Armenia agree to this dissolution before a peace treaty can be signed between the two South Caucasus countries.

In a written reply to a request by RFE/RL’s Armenian Service to comment on Azerbaijan’s demand, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said: “The Armenian side may consider the issue of the continuation of the Minsk process within the context of the comprehensive settlement of relations and, first of all, the conclusion of a peace treaty.”

Earlier, Armen Khachatrian, a lawmaker from the pro-government Civil Contract party, stated that the OSCE Minsk Group should only be dissolved after the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty is signed.

“I think that the OSCE Minsk Group should be dissolved only when there is peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, when all issues are resolved, and the agreement is signed. Only then can we discuss this issue. It is definitely not appropriate to discuss this issue now,” the Armenian lawmaker said.

For over three decades the United States, France and Russia have co-chaired the OSCE Minsk Group, seeking a diplomatic solution to the long-standing conflict.

The format, however, became largely defunct after Azerbaijan regained control of all seven districts around Nagorno-Karabakh and chunks of the ethnic Armenian-populated region proper in the 2020 war. Azerbaijan further consolidated its control over the region by using military force and effectively driving out its Armenian population out in 2023.

The status of the Minsk Group troika was further called into question amid increasing geopolitical differences between its Western members and Russia over the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Formally, however, the OSCE Minsk Group continues to exist, as its co-chair countries still have designated envoys to address the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

For a peace treaty to be signed, Azerbaijan also demands that Armenia remove a reference to the 1990 Declaration of Independence from its Constitution. Baku views the fact that the declaration mentions a 1989 act of unification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia as a territorial claim against it.