Former NATO chief calls on Azerbaijan to swiftly sign peace deal with Armenia

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former Secretary General of NATO and founder of Rasmussen Global, has called on Azerbaijan to swiftly sign the peace agreement with Armenia. 

Armenpress asked Rasmussen to comment on the Azeri disinformation campaign falsely accusing Armenia of border shooting.

Rasmussen, speaking at a press conference in Armenia’s Ijevan, said he was very concerned with the Azerbaijani rhetoric.

“I once again call on Azerbaijan to sign that agreement as soon as possible. The issues that were unresolved have now been resolved through concessions made by Armenia. Thus, the ball is in Azerbaijan’s court, therefore it must swiftly sign it,” Rasmussen said.

The former Secretary General of NATO said the signing of the treaty would be in the interests of Azerbaijan as well, because it would facilitate the development of Baku’s relations with the international community.

“I hope that both the EU and the US will exert pressure on Azerbaijan in order to sign that agreement as soon as possible,” he added.

Days after Armenia and Azerbaijan announced that the negotiations around the peace treaty terms have been successfully concluded, the Azerbaijani government started a massive disinformation campaign falsely accusing Armenia of firing at its military positions across the border. The accusations have been numerously denied by the Armenian military. Furthermore, the Azerbaijani authorities refused to provide any evidence in support of their accusations. The report on border shootings was also denied by the EU monitoring mission in Armenia. Azerbaijan has also been making preconditions by demanding Armenian constitutional changes by falsely claiming that it contains territorial claims against Azerbaijan, as well as the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group.

On March 20, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan reiterated readiness to sign the peace agreement with Azerbaijan.