Armenia has accepted the document submitted by Azerbaijan on five principles to normalize bilateral ties following the 44-day war between the two countries, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Saturday.
Aliyev made the remarks to Russian President Vladimir Putin during a phone call in which the leaders exchanged views on relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the post-conflict period, Azerbaijan's presidency said in a statement.
“President Ilham Aliyev recalled the document submitted by Azerbaijan on five principles for establishing interstate relations with Armenia, and the fact that the Armenian side accepted these principles,” the statement said.
The leaders discussed establishing a working group to prepare a peace agreement, the establishment of a commission on the delimitation of borders and the activities of a working group on transport issues with the involvement of Azerbaijan, Russia and Armenia.
The two also spoke during the April 6 meeting between Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in Brussels.
Russia and Azerbaijan further reaffirmed their mutual intention to keep close cooperation on the current agenda.
On the same day, Putin held a phone call with Pashinian in which the two discussed current issues on the bilateral agenda, including preparations for Pashinian's forthcoming visit to Russia.
Putin and Pashinian reaffirmed the importance of consistently implementing the trilateral agreements made between the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia on Nov. 9, 2020, Jan. 11, 2021, and Nov. 26, 2021.
The calls come after Armenia and Azerbaijan said last week they were gearing up for peace talks after a decadeslong conflict that has left thousands dead and erupted into an all-out war in 2020.
The two countries had been locked in a territorial dispute since the 1990s over Azerbaijan's region of Karabakh.
The mountainous region was at the center of a six-week war in 2020 that claimed more than 6,500 lives before it ended with a Russian-brokered cease-fire agreement.
The pact saw Azerbaijan regain swathes of its previously Armenian occupied territories in what was seen in Armenia as a national humiliation, sparking weeks of mass anti-government protests, which continued during last week’s peace talks between Aliyev and Pashinian.
Pashinian and Aliyev met in Brussels for rare talks mediated by the European Council President Charles Michel.
The meeting came after a flare-up in Karabakh in March between Armenia and Azerbaijan. After the March incident, Moscow and Yerevan accused Baku of cease-fire violation, a charge which the latter rejected, insisting its troops are in Azerbaijan's sovereign territory.
During the meeting, the two leaders ordered their foreign ministers to begin preparatory work for peace talks between the countries.
"An agreement was reached during the meeting ... to set up a bilateral commission on the issues of delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijan border, which will be in charge of ensuring security and stability along the frontier," Armenia’s Foreign Ministry said.
Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry also said work was underway to begin peace talks, adding that future peace treaties would be based "on the basic principles proposed earlier by Azerbaijan."
Russia welcomed the moves toward a treaty, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov saying: "The progress on concluding such a document is a very, very positive fact and is welcomed."
Turkey similarly hailed efforts for peace. In a written statement, the Foreign Ministry said that Turkey welcomed the decision to instruct the foreign ministers of the two countries to start preparations for a peace agreement and establish a joint border commission by the end of April.
"The Republic of Turkey supports the efforts to ensure peace and stability in the region and makes an active contribution to these efforts," it added.
Furthermore, following the talks, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Azerbaijani counterpart discussed the issue in a phone call.
The European Union said Michel "noted both President Aliyev's and Prime Minister Pashinyan's stated desire to move rapidly towards a peace agreement between their countries."
Prior to the 2020 war, diplomats from France, Russia and the United States – the so-called Minsk Group working under the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe – had for decades led fruitless negotiations on the Karabakh settlement.
