On Tuesday, Armenia’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that it had received a response from Baku to its most recent proposals on the draft treaty, marking the 11th version of the document exchanged between the two sides in over two years of negotiations.
Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Thursday that there were still disagreements on “one or two issues,” though he did not specify which points remained unresolved.
“The parties do not yet share a common position on these issues, and naturally, discussions with official Baku will continue,” Kostanian said.
Farid Shafiyev, head of a government-funded think tank in Azerbaijan, has disclosed three controversial points in the peace agreement with Armenia. He wrote on X that one of these issues concerns Azerbaijan’s demand that Armenia change its Constitution, which Baku claims contains territorial claims against Azerbaijan. The second point, according to Shafiyev, is the exclusion of “legal and diplomatic disputes” by Yerevan, and the third one is the absence of foreign forces along the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Kostanian denied that the demand for changing the Constitution is part of the draft peace treaty. However, he was vague on the other two purported points.
“Since the negotiations are ongoing at the moment, I don’t think it’s right to fully disclose what the discussions are about. But yes, as I mentioned, there are points that have not been agreed upon, and discussions will continue on them,” the Armenian diplomat said.
Asked whether Armenia would accept the withdrawal of the EU border-monitoring mission if a peace agreement with Azerbaijan is signed, Kostanian responded: “At the moment, since we do not have a delimited border with the Republic of Azerbaijan, and as long as there are problems, the Republic of Armenia believes that the involvement of European Union monitors on the Armenia-Azerbaijan interstate border plays an important role in terms of security and stability.”
Commenting on the issue of “legal and diplomatic disputes”, the deputy foreign minister said: “One must look at the general process and general logic. For the Republic of Armenia, there are also many important issues beyond this agreement, including humanitarian issues, which need to be addressed.”
The latest exchange of proposals between Yerevan and Baku took place on November 5. Armenia’s Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan earlier stated that the two sides were working through “one or two wordings” of the text. Mirzoyan suggested that once these issues were addressed, the treaty could be finalized and be ready for signing. He, however, did not provide specific details on the issues still under discussion.
When asked by RFE/RL’s Armenian Service whether the issue of withdrawing international legal claims against Azerbaijan had been addressed or was still on the table, Armenia’s Foreign Ministry effectively declined to offer a concrete answer.
“The public is properly informed about the process of normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and Armenia’s positions, including on the articles of the peace treaty,” the ministry responded vaguely.
In response to a follow-up question about whether Azerbaijan would also withdraw its lawsuits against Armenia if that matter was part of the discussions, the ministry said: “The articles of the peace treaty will be based on the principle of reciprocity.”
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian had previously proposed that Armenia and Azerbaijan move forward with signing the peace agreement based on the parts of the draft text that both sides had already agreed upon, which he estimated at roughly 80 percent of the document. Pashinian suggested that any remaining issues could be addressed later. However, Baku rejected this approach.
Expectations for a breakthrough on the peace treaty have risen since a meeting between Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on October 24, on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia. While few details of that meeting were officially disclosed, Pashinian and Mirzoyan reportedly spoke about progress achieved at those talks when they discussed their results with members of their political team in Yerevan.
Armenia and Azerbaijan embarked on their current peace process after a deadly 2020 war over Nagorno-Karabakh that saw Baku’s regaining control of much of the breakaway region as well as a series of subsequent border clashes
Azerbaijan completed its takeover of Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023 when more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians fled hostilities and resettled in Armenia.
Armenia continues to accuse Azerbaijan of occupying parts of its sovereign territory following cross-border incursions in 2021-2022.
The United States and other Western partners of Armenia and Azerbaijan have repeatedly expressed their support for a peace treaty between the two South Caucasus nations, encouraging them to finalize it already this year.