Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said at the weekend that the two sides fully agree on 13 of the 17 articles of a draft treaty discussed them. Pashinian proposed that they sign an interim deal containing the agreed articles and “continue discussing all remaining issues.” He did not shed light on those outstanding issues.
Other senior Armenian officials were also light-tipped on the matter when they spoke with journalists on Wednesday.
“If there is additional information to report, I will tell you,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Mnatsakan Safarian.
Sargis Khandanian, the chairman of the Armenian parliament committee on foreign relations, essentially echoed Pashinian’s assertion that the agreed provisions cover “all basic principles of peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan.” In particular, he said, they uphold the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration in which newly independent Soviet republics recognized their Soviet-era borders.
Azerbaijan has rejected Pashinian’s proposal, with Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov saying on Monday that the framework deal sought by Yerevan lacks several “important provisions.” He did not specify them.
Bayramov and another Azerbaijani official, Himet Hajiyev, also reiterated that Armenia must change its constitution before it can make peace with Azerbaijan. In addition, Hajiyev called for “restrictions” to be placed on Armenia’s armed forces.
“Third parties cannot force or demand Armenia not to purchase ammunition or weapons,” countered Khandanian.
The senior lawmaker representing Pashinian’s Civil Contract insisted that Baku has so far not tried to have its new demand incorporated into the would-be treaty.
It was announced last month that the two sides have agreed to exclude from the treaty another bone of contention: the practical modalities of opening transport links between Azerbaijan and its Nakhichevan exclave through Armenia’s Syunik region. Baku wants the transit of people and goods to be exempt from Armenian border controls. Yerevan has rejected this demand, saying that it cannot compromise on Armenia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Pashinian reaffirmed that stance during a news conference held on Saturday, Still, he said Yerevan is ready to let a foreign private company provide “additional security” along a highway and railway that would connect Nakhichevan to the rest of Azerbaijan. He did not go into details.
Safarian said that even if such an arrangement is fleshed out by the two sides, Armenian border and customs officers will still control the transit traffic through Syunik.
“There has been talk about such a possibility, but its details are not yet clear,” cautioned the diplomat.
A Russian-brokered ceasefire deal that stopped the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh says that Russian border guards stationed in Armenia will “control” the movement of people, vehicles and goods to and from Nakhichevan. Moscow and Yerevan have different interpretations of this provision. Armenian officials have said that it only allows the Russians to “monitor” the traffic, rather than escort it, let alone be involved in border controls. Russian officials have renewed their criticism of Yerevan’s stance in recent weeks.