YEREVAN, December 13. /TASS/. Armenia’s government is hopeful that Azerbaijan will come back to the negotiating table to finish what it started and get a peace deal done, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said at a joint press conference with his Estonian counterpart Margus Tsahkna.
"Azerbaijan should return to the negotiating table, to the form of meetings. Most of the work has been done, so if we talk about an agreement, we have to meet and negotiate," Mirzoyan said. "Once we go back and work on the approved mechanisms, we can get things done quickly. The only link missing to complete the chain is Azerbaijan’s political will, which needs to be either shown or not."
Earlier, Baku turned down a number of meetings with Armenian representatives which were due to take place in Western venues. In particular, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev declined the proposal to hold talks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in the Spanish city of Granada and in Brussels in late October.
Armenia and Azerbaijan are negotiating a peace treaty. One of the major obstacles is the demarcation of a shared section of the border. Yerevan insists that the border delimitation should be politically based on the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration. The Armenian authorities assert that the 1974-1990 maps of the General Staff of the Soviet Union’s Armed Forces should be used for this purpose. Another topic of discussion is the opening of regional transport corridors. Yerevan believes that the principle of preserving the jurisdiction of the countries through whose territory they pass should be applied.
Earlier, Pashinyan and Aliyev held several face-to-face meetings, brokered by Russia and the European Union. The two foreign ministers have also held talks, and a bilateral commission on border delimitation is working. Yerevan has reiterated that it expects a peace agreement to be inked and relations to get back to normal soon. Nevertheless, the two countries claim delays in responses to their remarks and proposals regarding the draft agreement.
Meanwhile, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin told TASS that Russia remains ready to host talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan and expects Baku and Yerevan to take into account the proper timing of a proposal for the Moscow venue.