Signing a peace treaty with Armenia doesn’t mean every problem will be resolved, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said Monday as the South Caucasus rivals struggle to thrash out an agreement for their decadeslong dispute, according to Azerbaijan in Focus, reporting Daily Sabah.
“The peace process does not depend on the wishes of one party. It is important that both parties take corresponding steps here,” Bayramov told a television interview in his country, local media reported.
“After the restoration of full sovereignty of Azerbaijan, we are closely following the messages of the political leadership of Armenia,” Bayramov noted.
Acknowledging “positive signs” from Yerevan in recent months, he said Baku expects “concrete steps” toward peace.
According to the minister, Azerbaijan is the party behind all important initiatives related to the peace treaty, which will be based on mutual recognition of territorial integrity.
Bayramov informed that Baku had received Armenia’s next package of proposals for the peace treaty in November and sent back its response to Yerevan after working on it for a month.
He believes the respective meetings will take place in 2024 as the process continues.
“Azerbaijan has a realistic and optimistic outlook on this issue. But when we talk about the peace treaty, we must understand that it will not resolve everything 100%,” Bayramov said. “Such a document will constitute a foundation and minimum conditions in future negotiations for normal neighborly relations between two nations.”
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan recently said it was possible to sign a peace agreement with Azerbaijan in the near future if Baku approves the principles agreed between the leaders of the two countries.
Earlier this month, Baku and Yerevan said in a joint statement they had struck an agreement on taking confidence-building measures and normalizing relations following bilateral talks.
As a sign of goodwill, the pair agreed on a prisoner swap, as well. Azerbaijan released 32 Armenians, mostly captured in late 2020, while Armenia handed over two Azerbaijani soldiers held since April 2023.
The pair also discussed the withdrawal of troops from their shared border but no concrete decision followed.
The South Caucasus neighbors have been locked in a decadeslong conflict over the control of the Karabakh region, which Azerbaijan reclaimed after a lightning operation against illegal separatists in September.
Azerbaijan, with Türkiye lending its support, liberated most of the Karabakh region from Armenian occupation during 44 days of clashes in the fall of 2020, which ended with a Russian-brokered peace agreement, opening the door to normalization.
Azerbaijan sent troops to Karabakh on Sept. 19, and after just one day of fighting, Armenian separatist forces aided down arms and agreed to reintegrate with Baku.
Since peace talks – mediated separately by the European Union, the United States and Russia – have seen little progress, the neighbors have been focusing on their bilateral efforts for a treaty.
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