Signing a peace agreement with Armenia is vital, Azerbaijan said Wednesday while expressing concern over Yerevan’s constitutional territorial claims against Azerbaijan amid a stalemate in efforts for the said deal.
"A peace agreement is of great importance, but the fact that Armenia's Constitution still contains territorial claims against Azerbaijan and the existence of vengeful tendencies in the country are concerning. Azerbaijan will continue its constructive efforts on this matter," Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said at a joint news conference in Ankara.
Bayramov spoke alongside Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Uzbek Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov following a trilateral meeting of the foreign, trade, economy and transport ministers of Türkiye, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan.
Relations between Baku and Yerevan have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan and seven adjacent regions, including Lachin.
Most of the territory was liberated by Azerbaijan during a 44-day war in the fall of 2020, which ended after a Russian-brokered peace agreement that opened the door to normalization talks and the demarcation of their border.
After a series of slow-moving negotiations, Azerbaijan rushed in troops last year September and swiftly seized back Karabakh, whose entire population of nearly 120,000 people returned to Armenia after rejecting a reintegration program Baku offered.
Baku and Yerevan are currently working to sign a peace treaty, which they say is 80% complete, including border delineation, to end the decadeslong dispute over the enclave.
The talks have been tense, with both nations in recent weeks accusing the other of not being interested in signing a treaty to end their more than three decades of conflict that started before the two countries gained their independence from Moscow.
Baku rejects signing a deal with provisions “that have yet to be agreed upon.”
Azerbaijan has said Armenia must change its constitution to remove indirect references to Karabakh's "independence" before signing a peace treaty.
Earlier in 2024, Armenia withdrew from several Azerbaijani villages it controlled since the early 1990s as part of the peace process.
Bayramov highlighted discussions on key economic, trade, investment and transportation issues, noting that potential projects in the energy sector, particularly renewable energy, were also on the agenda.
He said the talks covered the Middle Corridor trade route as well as plans to expand the capacity of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway and Azerbaijan's Port of Alat.
Environmental cooperation was another focus, Bayramov noted, expressing gratitude to Türkiye and Uzbekistan for their active participation in the COP29 climate change conference, which was recently held in the capital, Baku.
Bayramov said the three countries also discussed regional developments, particularly the situation in Gaza.
"We emphasized the importance of adhering to the cease-fire in Gaza. Azerbaijan supports a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict in line with United Nations Security Council resolutions and will continue its diplomatic efforts in this regard," he said.
He also commended Türkiye's positive role in Syria, stressing the importance of Syria's reconstruction and reintegration into the international system, and noted that Azerbaijan, Türkiye and Uzbekistan would cooperate on this issue.
Regarding reconstruction efforts in Azerbaijan's Karabakh and East Zangezur regions, Bayramov thanked Türkiye and Uzbekistan for their contributions to rebuilding the liberated territories.
During the meeting, the three countries signed the Ankara Declaration and a road map for cooperation in the transport sector.
Bayramov emphasized that the agreements reached at the trilateral meeting would significantly contribute to the region's development and prosperity.
