Azerbaijan suggests Armenia start bilateral talks on delimitation and demarcation of the border between the two countries. This was stated by the head of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Jeyhun Bayramov on Wednesday, speaking at the 43rd meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) member states.
"Azerbaijan has liberated the former 30-year occupied state border with Armenia, and now we are building border control infrastructure. We offer Armenia to start bilateral discussions on the delimitation and demarcation of the border. Azerbaijan is waiting for a positive response from Armenia," the press service of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry quoted Bayramov as saying.
The Azerbaijani foreign minister said there is no alternative to ensuring peace and stability in the region except to establish good, neighborly relations. "Now there is a unique chance to build such relations by consistently implementing the clauses of the trilateral statement signed by the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia," Bayramov added.
Last fall, the situation in the conflict zone around Nagorno-Karabakh escalated and active hostilities began there, which ended after the signing of a trilateral statement by Russian leaders Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Armenia Nikol Pashinyan on November 9, 2020. Under its terms, the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides stopped at the occupied positions, then a number of areas came under Baku's control, and Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the line of contact and the Lachin corridor.
As a result, Armenia's Syunik and Gegharkunik provinces began to border with Azerbaijan. The situation there escalated on May 12. At that time, the Armenian Defense Ministry reported that Azerbaijani armed forces tried to carry out "certain works" in one of the border regions in order to "adjust the border" and went deep into the Armenian territory. Since then, the sides periodically report incidents.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS