Bayramov: Baku and Yerevan ‘on threshold of peace’

Azerbaijan and Armenia are on the threshold of peace, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said at a special session of the Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

"With the end of the nearly thirty-year-long armed conflict and the commitments to respect each other’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of borders which the two countries have undertaken for the first time since they regained their independence, Azerbaijan and Armenia are on the threshold of peace," Jeyhun Bayramov said.

He stressed that Baku is working closely with Yerevan to ensure lasting peace. The talks held recently in Washington, Brussels, Moscow, and Chisinau "have made the sides’ positions clear," the minister noted.

"Azerbaijan expects Armenia to reciprocate the political will necessary to settle differences on three concrete tracks on the agenda of bilateral talks," the diplomat said.

The minister noted that the key obstacles standing in the way of normalizing relations between the two countries are "Armenia’s ongoing illegal military presence in Azerbaijan’s sovereign territories," its interference into Azerbaijan’s domestic affairs, and the hindrance to Baku’s dialogue with the local Armenian population in Karabakh.