Statements coming from the Foreign Ministries of both Armenia and Azerbaijan in the past day have confirmed that the countries are ready to start negotiations on the delimitation and demarcation of their border “without pre-conditions”.
Yesterday (19 January), the Azerbaijani foreign minister, Jeyhun Bayramov, was in Vienna to kick off Azerbaijan’s role as chair of the OSCE's Forum for Security and Co-operation, and meet with the Secretary General, Helga Schmidt. The Azerbaijani diplomat noted the importance of the delimitation of the borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan, adding that Azerbaijan was in favour of starting this process without delay and without preconditions. However, he noted that “Armenia's approach to this issue, including the position demonstrated by Armenia on this issue and the introduction of a number of preconditions for the start of the delimitation process, is absolutely unacceptable”.
Earlier today, Vahan, Hunanyan, the spokesperson for the Armenian Foreign Ministry, aimed to clarify what he deemed a “misunderstanding”. The Armenian representative affirmed that “the Armenian side has no preconditions for demarcation”, but was rather aiming to implement the agreements reached in the trilateral statements, such as the aim of “taking steps to increase security, stability and stability of the Azerbaijani-Armenian border”. He added that the Armenian government also thinks the demarcation process should start soon.
Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, announced last Friday that Armenia had submitted a proposal on the process of forming a demarcation and delimitation committee, which he had passed on to the Azerbaijani side.