Yerevan and Baku Discuss Troop Withdrawal Options from the Armenia-Azerbaijan Interstate Border
Yerevan and Baku are discussing the possibilities for the withdrawal of troops from the Armenia-Azerbaijan interstate border. Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ararat Mirzoyan announced this during a press briefing with Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna.
“We have proposed an initiative for the withdrawal of troops from the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, and we believe that this will have a positive impact and help prevent new potential escalations. I wouldn’t say we have an agreement, but this is an idea that is being discussed,” said Mirzoyan.
The minister emphasized that in addition to these agreements, other topics are also being considered on the path to building trust, such as the conditions for exchanging prisoners. There has been no change on this issue, and everything is proceeding according to the agreements.
“If you have noticed, there were two components: the prisoner exchange and the component of the Climate Conference, which officially ended yesterday. Today we can already expect the implementation of the second component. We have no basis to say that the Azerbaijani side will not fulfill the agreement,” noted Mirzoyan.
The Foreign Minister expressed hope that such reciprocal steps will have a positive impact on the normalization of relations. At the same time, according to the minister, the main process involves negotiations for a peace treaty. For this, he believes Azerbaijan must return to the negotiation table and meeting formats.
“Most of the work is, in fact, done if we are talking about a peace treaty. Now we need to meet and reach agreements on the final formulations of significant issues,” said the Foreign Minister.