Yerevan has no legal, political, moral right to put forward preconditions. Azerbaijani FM

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said that two weeks ago, Armenia made new proposals on the delimitation of the border with Azerbaijan.

According to him, the Armenian side has put forward some conditions for the start of the work of the commission on the demarcation and delimitation of the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia. "Azerbaijan has stated that we can start this process, but without any conditions. There is no need for "creative" approaches in the issue of delimitation. International borders must be recognized. Armenia, which has occupied Azerbaijani lands for 30 years, has no legal, political or moral right to impose any condition on the issue of delimitation of borders," Bayramov said.

Baku reacted negatively to Armenia's proposals on demarcation and delimitation of the border. There were various proposals, to which there was a negative reaction, RA Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan told journalists.

"This is a consistent process, and there were proposals that were unacceptable to Armenia. We have repeatedly stated that we are interested in the delimitation of the border with Azerbaijan," Mirzoyan said.

Vahan Hunanyan, the spokesperson of RA MFA, commented on the statements of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov saying that the Prime Minister of Armenia, the President of Russia and the President of Azerbaijan signed a statement in Sochi on November 26, 2021, which is public and available on the Internet. The statement clearly states that the leaders of the three countries agreed to take steps to increase the level of stability and security on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and to lead the process towards the formation of a bilateral commission on delimitation and demarcation. 

"The statement signed by the leaders of the three countries shows that the activities of the demarcation and delimitation commission should be preceded by steps to increase the level of security on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Armenia, being really interested in the full implementation of the agreements, formulated its ideas about their implementation. The Azerbaijani side didn’t give any meaningful responses, but rejected them without offering options instead. If you call it a "condition", a "precondition", then voicing estimates for them has no logical relation to the above process," Hunanyan said.

Chances are high for Yeraskh-Julfa-Ordubad-Meghri-Horadiz railway to be operated

At today's government session, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that we very close to recording the first practical results of the trilateral working group on opening communications in the region.

"Yesterday's visit [ed. - of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk and CEO of Russian Railways Oleg Belozyorov] was dedicated to the operation of the Yeraskh-Julfa-Ordubad-Meghri-Horadiz railway. We have already reached an agreement on this topic, that railway should operate on the territory of Armenia, within the framework of the legislation of Armenia, and in Azerbaijan - within the framework of the legislation of Azerbaijan," Pashinyan said.

RA MFA spokesperson commented on the statements of Azerbaijani FM that Armenia has failed the activities of the trilateral working group. 

"If we are referring to the trilateral working group on the opening of regional communications, by a curious coincidence, at a government session held today, Prime Minister Pashinyan stated that Armenia is at the stage of practical steps to restore the Yeraskh-Julfa-Ordubad-Meghri-Horadiz railway and Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan held discussions on this topic with his Russian counterpart, Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk, and the CEO of Russian Railways Oleg Belozyorov on February 2 in Yerevan.

Prime Minister Pashinyan, assessing the situation, said that recording of the first results of the work of the trilateral working group looks very close. In this context, the statements of the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister are at least strange and we hope it doesn't mean rejection of the agreements reached in Brussels," Vahan Hunanyan said.

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