News - Vahan Kostanyan: No agreement, at the moment, between Armenia and Azerbaijan on fundamental issues

At the moment, we can record that there is still no agreement on the noted matters. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Vahan Kostanyan told this to reporters Thursday in the National Assembly of Armenia—and referring to the fact that Armenia has received the latest version of Azerbaijan's recommendations regarding the peace treaty. "We hope that a meeting between the foreign ministers [of the two countries] will take place, where all issues will be discussed. At the moment, there is no agreement between the parties on fundamental issues. At the moment, discussions are underway between the delegations led by the ministers regarding the next meeting on the text of the peace treaty," said Kostanyan. When asked what is preventing the successful course of negotiations, he responded: "I cannot give an assessment on what is hindering Azerbaijan. [But] I can reaffirm that the Armenian side is interested and remains willing to normalize relations with Azerbaijan. The fact that the meeting [between the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders] took place [recently] in Munich can be considered positive, but, ultimately, we need to move from meetings and discussions to more practical actions, and the agreements that were reached in the last 2-3 years—in particular, around three principles—ultimately, to give it a documentary record." Kostanyan noted that agreements on non-use of force were reached several times, but unfortunately they were violated by Azerbaijan. And regarding the view that the Western platform was considered preferable for the negotiations, the Armenian deputy FM said: “The term ‘Western platform’ is a little incomprehensible to me. At the moment, there are discussions about the timeframes and place. When there will be a final agreement, we will naturally inform the public."