Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Photo: Vugar Amrullaev / Sputnik
Azerbaijan has insisted that Armenia’s “legitimate conditions” be fulfilled before signing the peace treaty, the text of which was agreed last month. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that two key conditions must be met for the signing of a peace agreement: the dissolution of the Minsk Group, which has mediated negotiations between the two countries since 1991, and amendments to the Armenian constitution regarding Nagorno-Karabakh. According to Aliyev, these demands are not new, but Armenia has not yet given a “serious response,” France24reports.
Ilham Aliyev stressed that once these two conditions are met, there will be no obstacles to signing a peace agreement. He added that “the ball is in Armenia’s court” and if Armenia really wants to sign a peace agreement, it must accept these conditions. Armenia, in turn, has expressed its readiness to sign the peace agreement without delay, with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announcing that a referendum to amend the constitution will be held only in 2027.
The signing of a peace treaty between the two former Soviet republics is of great importance not only for the Caucasus, but for international politics as a whole, as this process takes place against the backdrop of the growing influence of Turkey, the US, Russia and the EU in the region.
