Azerbaijan, Armenia on threshold of peace: Bayramov

Speaking at a special meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council on Tuesday, Jeyhun Bayramov said after the two countries gained independence, for the first time they stand on the threshold of peace with the obligation of mutual respect for each other’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of borders.

He added that within the framework of the Azerbaijani-Armenian normalization process, negotiations are underway on the text of a bilateral peace agreement, Trend reported.

He noted that the talks held over the past few weeks in Washington, Brussels, Moscow and Chisinau made it possible to better understand the positions of the parties.

Bayramov stressed that Azerbaijan expects mutual political will from the Armenian side to overcome differences in three specific areas that form the agenda of bilateral discussions.

Azerbaijan is actively working to ensure lasting peace with Armenia, he said, adding that there are opportunities and real prospects for establishing peace, strengthening stability, ensuring peaceful coexistence, advancing the peace agenda, and investing in economic development and cooperation.

The decades-long conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Karabakh flared up in September 2020, marking the worst escalation since the 1990s.

Hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered trilateral ceasefire declaration signed in November 2020. The two former Soviet states agreed to the deployment of Russian peacekeepers in the region. Since then, there have been occasional clashes along the border.

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