Azerbaijan rejects Armenian lawmaker’s offer to hold meeting

Armenian Member of Parliament Sargis Khandanyan, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Relations, said on April 1 that his Azerbaijani counterpart has rejected the offer to hold a meeting on the draft peace agreement between the two countries.

In a statement on X, Khandanyan said his offer remains on the table.

“My Azerbaijani counterpart has publicly rejected my proposal for a meeting to exchange views on the draft peace agreement—going as far as calling me ‘a populist.’ If advocating for peace is populism, then I proudly embrace the label for as long as necessary. My offer remains on the table. I stand ready to engage in confidence-building measures at the inter-parliamentary level, tirelessly working for peace and stability in our region,” Khandanyan said.

On March 20, Khandanyan offered Samad Seidov, Chair of the Committee on Foreign and Interparliamentary Relations of the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan, to convene a joint meeting between the committees and discuss the signing of the peace agreement. Khandanyan made the offer after the negotiations around the terms of the agreement were finalized pending signing. Armenia has offered to swiftly sign the agreement, but Azerbaijan has been delaying the process.