PM Pashinyan addresses Baku's demand for including all key articles in the peace treaty

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 11, ARMENPRESS. The draft peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan consists of 13 fully agreed-upon and 3 partially agreed-upon articles. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made this statement during a question-and-answer session with government members in the National Assembly, responding to a question from the "Civil Agreement" faction deputy Lilit Minasyan.

Minasyan reminded the Prime Minister that Armenia has recently proposed to Azerbaijan to sign a peace treaty based on the 13 agreed-upon articles and to address the remaining three points through further negotiations.

However, Azerbaijan has rejected this proposal, stating that while 80 percent of the treaty is agreed upon, removing the non-agreed clauses from the draft is unacceptable. Minasyan inquired about the Prime Minister's stance on this issue.

The Prime Minister stated that the title, preamble, and 13 articles of the peace treaty have been fully agreed upon.

"Three additional articles have been partially agreed upon. This means some sentences within these articles are agreed upon, while others are not. There is one article that has not been agreed upon at all. For instance, the initial drafts of the peace treaty included 18 articles, but some were later removed. Azerbaijan itself announced the removal of the article concerning the unblocking of communications. Now we are proposing to sign what have been agreed upon," Pashinyan emphasized.

According to him, there is an agreed article in the draft of the peace treaty, which states that there is a mechanism for the parties to be in constant consultations regarding the implementation of this treaty.This will involve a commission-like body and assumes the establishment of diplomatic relations.

The Prime Minister noted that no treaty in the world can address every question. Even agreements with 40, 50, or 60 articles do not cover all important  issues. Countries continually develop their relations and engage in discussions. 

"We propose signing what has been agreed upon and moving forward. If the assumption is that we need to address all important issues before signing, it means we will never sign," said Pashinyan.