Signing peace treaty to dispel Azeri concerns about EUMA, says Speaker

The signing of the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty would dispel Baku’s concerns about the EU monitoring mission (EUMA), Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Alen Simonyan has said.

One of the agreed-upon terms of the would-be peace treaty pertains to ruling out the presence of third-party forces along the border.

“If Azerbaijan is so concerned about the EU civilian observers, Azerbaijan itself is the one who is keeping them on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, because the moment it signs the agreed-upon peace treaty our agreement would take effect,” Simonyan said, referring to the term of ruling out third-party forces.

Asked by reporters whether Azerbaijan could launch a new attack after the withdrawal of EUMA, Simonyan said, “If an attack on Armenia is going to happen after signing the peace treaty, then the attack would happen even during the presence of EU observers, what’s the difference?”

The governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan announced on March 13 that the negotiations around the peace treaty terms have been successfully concluded. The Armenian government has expressed readiness to start discussions with Azerbaijan around the date and location of signing the agreement.