Negotiation Process Not Going Smoothly: Secretary of the Civil Contract Faction

The negotiation process is not going smoothly; there are several difficulties and some unresolved provisions, but a large part of the peace treaty provisions has been agreed upon. This was stated by Arthur Hovhannisyan, the secretary of the National Assembly's "Civil Contract" faction, during parliamentary briefings, responding to observations that Baku is creating a deadlock for the signing of the peace treaty.

“We hear various statements from Baku, and part of those statements is not constructive at all and does not speak of a friendly attitude. However, Armenia continues to advance its narratives. We are cooperating with our international partners, and we have ongoing discussions with Azerbaijan at the very least,” said Hovhannisyan, adding that experience has shown that Azerbaijan has made even worse statements in terms of content in the past, yet success has been achieved, for example, regarding the return of captives.

“Therefore, let's not accept this as a deadlock, because if we look back chronologically, we will realize that there have been many situations where we felt or understood that we were in a deadlock, but the situation eventually stabilized,” he said.

When asked why Baku makes such announcements, Arthur Hovhannisyan responded that his perception is that the Armenia-Azerbaijan dialogue has certain received episodes. “But experience shows that when other regional countries with different interests get involved in that conversation, their pressures can also affect the Armenia-Azerbaijan dialogue. What I mean is that due to the involvement of a third country, Azerbaijan may display a different rhetoric, serving the interests of completely different countries, which naturally complicates the negotiation process. This is not the first time; we are familiar with this situation, and we are aware of Azerbaijan's such approaches and the approaches of other regional countries and their influence on our and Azerbaijan's conversations. Taking all this into account, we are engaged in communication with Azerbaijan,” he said.