Armenia’s National Security chief Armen Grigoryan said on Thursday that there is an agreement to sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan and complete the delimitation process of the borders, despite the fact that Azerbaijan continues to occupy Armenia’s sovereign territory.
Last month, after meeting with Azerbaijan’s presidential adviser Hikemt Hajiyev in Washington at the invitation of White National Security Council adviser Jake Sullivan, Grigoryan said that specific steps have been foreseen to achieve peace.
It is unclear what so-called steps Sullivan had outlined, but two weeks later Grigoryan is discussing agreements while adding that there are no concrete mechanisms in place.
“The issues of delimitation and a peace treaty are interlinked,” Grigoryan said in an interview with Armenia’s Public Television channel on Tuesday night. “Armenia continues to be concerned that after the peace treaty, Azerbaijan can continue to use the non-delimited border as an excuse to attack Armenia.”
“The borders of Armenia and Azerbaijan were delineated in 1929 and it can be said that the delimitation process between Armenia and Azerbaijan ended there. All that’s left is a mutual agreement that we accept that as a starting point, that we secure Armenia’s 29,800 square kilometers and move forward,” said Grigoryan.
Only four month ago, Armenian authorities were insisting that in order to begin peace talks with Azerbaijan, a final status of Karabakh should be determined. However, it seems that today the word “status” has been taken out of Yerevan’s lexicon. Officials representing Armenia in these talks have clearly separated the Karabakh issue from the peace treaty and instead are focusing on what they are referencing the concept of Baku-Stepanakert talks, which Azerbaijan has already rejected.
“The approach to the talks are that with a peace treaty we are settling relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. As for the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, we are continuing talks with our allies, as well as all the players, in order to create an international mechanism to address issues of rights and security concerns between Karabakh and Azerbaijan,” explained Grigoryan.
Azatutyun.am reported on Thursday that Azerbaijan’s government has created an official body that will deal with delimitation of borders in with Armenia. This office is tasked with liaising with relevant ministries and cabinet staff. There are no public indications that Armenia has a similar body.
