Azernews.Az

Qabil Ashirov

Read more

“This year, there have been positive advancements in the process of normalizing relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Notably, in April, the delimitation and demarcation of a certain segment of the state border between the two countries were carried out for the first time,” Azernews reports, citing Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, citing as he stated this in his comments to journalists.

The Minister noted that physical meetings have taken place concerning the peace agreement with Armenia. Additionally, text exchanges have continued. Despite some open questions, there have been significant advances in the peace agreement process.

As for the draft peace agreement consists of a preamble and 17 articles, he said that the texts for the preamble and 15 articles have been fully agreed upon, with two articles still having open questions. Work continues on these unresolved issues. Several rounds of negotiations and text exchanges have already been conducted, though a fully agreed version has yet to be achieved.

Additionally, the Minister pointed out a crucial issue: Armenia's territorial claims against Azerbaijan in its Constitution.

"We expect decisive steps from Armenia regarding this matter. Recent arguments from Armenia have not satisfied us. I would also like to mention that the Constitutional Court of Armenia made a decision stating that the preamble of the Armenian Constitution is immutable and cannot be altered. We believe this complicates the situation further, as the preamble of the Armenian Constitution references the Declaration of Independence of Armenia, which includes claims against Azerbaijan's territorial integrity," the Minister added.

The minister also touched upon the implementing domestic projects and noted that a major portion of the railway construction has been completed.

FM Bayramov added that, simultaneously, construction of a bridge over the Araz River is ongoing based on an agreement with the Islamic Republic of Iran. This bridge aims to establish a route connecting Azerbaijan's western region with Nakhchivan through Iranian territory.