Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said that he and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu reaffirmed their readiness to advance the peace process without preconditions when they recently met on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomatic Forum.

Mirzoyan, who appeared before the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Foreign Relations, said that whenever the demarcation and delineation of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border begins, it will have nothing to do with the status of Nagorno Karabakh or the rights of the Armenians there.

"The border between Armenia and Azerbaijan will simply be demarcated. During all these years, Armenia has stated that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is not a territorial issue, it is a matter of all rights. We continue to look at the issue in this context; our efforts will be directed to it," Mirzoyan said.

Deputies were most interested as to why Mirzoyan was seen smiling during his meeting with Çavuşoğlu. Mirzoyan said that all Armenian government officials tend to smile at such events and that wasn’t an exception in this regard,

As for the five points put forward by Baku to start negotiations Mirzoyan said there was nothing “unacceptable” in the list but that they “do not fully address the possible agenda of comprehensive Armenia-Azerbaijan peace”.

Mirzyan said the status of Karabakh, and the rights of Armenians there, remains the focus of Yerevan and that such concerns have been sent to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.

Armenia has requested that the Minsk Group Co-Chairs mediate the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process.