YEREVAN, April 22. /TASS/. Negotiations with Azerbaijan on a peace agenda are not in a deadlock and are continuing, while the likelihood of war is not rising, Armenian Parliament Speaker Alen Simonyan assured.
"Negotiations with Azerbaijan are not in a deadlock nor will they be and we are continuing to negotiate. No steps or actions will increase the likelihood of war. We must do everything to make our peace agenda a reality," Simonyan told reporters.
He added that Armenian authorities are closely monitoring reports of ceasefire violations and drawing conclusions. "But our goal is peace," the speaker reiterated.
Simonyan said he was confident that such reports of ceasefire violations cannot serve as an indicator of escalation. "Escalation is possible without a single shot fired," he noted. Simonyan also mentioned that during his visit to St. Petersburg for a CIS Interparliamentary Assembly meeting, he talked with his Azerbaijani counterpart Sahiba Gafarova on the forum’s sidelines.
"My impression is that a deadlock is out of the question. The Azerbaijani side is also interested in promptly concluding the process," he added.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry said on March 13 that all the provisions of the peace treaty had been agreed upon with Azerbaijan and that Yerevan is ready to look at where and when to sign this treaty. Aykhan Hajizade, spokesperson for Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry, said an agreement could be reached if certain conditions were met, including an end to shelling of Azerbaijani army positions at the border and amendments to Armenia’s constitution to remove territorial claims against Baku.
Additionally, Azerbaijan insists on the official dissolution of the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) as an outdated structure.
Yerevan has repeatedly denied shelling accusations from Baku. Meanwhile, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has stated that his government intends to initiate the adoption of a new constitution with a "regional focus." Pashinyan has also expressed his willingness to discuss disbanding the OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by Russia, the US, and France. However, he did not specify whether Armenia would agree to the dissolution before or after signing a peace deal with Azerbaijan.