Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, in an interview with the ArmenPress news agency, said that Armenia is committed to negotiations designed to normalize relations with Azerbaijan and that Baku has yet to respond to proposals submitted by the Pashinyan administration.

Here's the unofficial translated text of the interview.

What developments are there in the process of normalizing Armenia-Azerbaijan relations? Some argue the process has reached a dead end.

Armenia has never stopped negotiations on a treaty establishing peaceful relations with Azerbaijan. Despite Azerbaijani illegal actions in the Lachin Corridor and the postponement of the Moscow meeting, we have conveyed our new proposals and justifications for the draft agreement to the Azerbaijani side more than a month ago, but we have not yet received a response. So, the ball is now in Azerbaijan's court.

As in the past, Armenia is taking a constructive and conscientious approach to the negotiation process, as our goal is to establish security and peace in the region. We are also listening to the calls of the international community and are ready to negotiate more intensively.

Including the opening of the Lachin Corridor?

We have often said that Article 6 of the tripartite statement of November 9, 2020, which regulates issues related to the Lachin Corridor, does not provide for any function of Armenia related to ensuring the uninterrupted operation of the corridor. Ensuring the normal operation of the corridor is the responsibility of Azerbaijan and the peacekeeping troops of Russia. And the issues related to the domestic life of Nagorno-Karabakh (NK) are within the scope of resolution of the NK authorities, and Armenia’s authorities have no function here either.

Let me add that the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh caused by the blocking of the Lachin Corridor is already approaching a humanitarian disaster, and if the corridor is not immediately reopened, there is an extreme need for the humanitarian intervention of the international community, including, first, the United Nations.

Recently, Azerbaijan started justifying the closure of the Lachin Corridor with the alleged transportation of ammunition, particularly land mines, from Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced in his press conference that Azerbaijan has given them data on this, which they are studying.

I must note that the Azerbaijani side seems to be ensnared in its talk about the blocking of the Lachin Corridor. Azerbaijan often insists that the corridor is not closed, then says that the corridor is blocked for environmental reasons. And when it was announced that the mine in question had ceased operations, people posing as eco-activists demanded inspections of Red Cross vehicles and humanitarian cargo passing through the corridor. Then, accompanied by Russian peacekeepers, they stormed into the vehicle, escorted by Russian peacekeepers, transporting children returning to Nagorno Karabakh, terrorizing them. Now, these actions are justified by the fictitious transfer of land mines.

I would like to again emphasize that the Republic of Armenia carried out mining only in the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia and did so purely for self-defense purposes, as it was subjected to military aggression by Azerbaijan in May 2021, in November 2021, and in September 2022. The danger of new military aggression against Armenia’s sovereign territory remains high even now.

The land mines that the Azerbaijani side displays for propaganda purposes , declaring they were produced in 2021 and recently transported  from Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh through the Lachin Corridor, in fact appeared near Azerbaijan in 2021-2022 from the territory of Armenia occupied as a result of the Azerbaijani aggression against the Republic of Armenia.

Azerbaijani authorities declare the corridor is open. The governments of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh declare the corridor is closed. This may confuse the international community.

This is the reason why we propose to send a fact-finding team of the UN, the  or any other international organization to the Lachie Corridor, and we will continue to promote this idea.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has announced that Yerevan rejected the proposal to create a trilateral format of Armenia-Georgia-Azerbaijan. Your comments?

Armenia is greatly interested in the development of trilateral dialogue between the countries of the South Caucasus. We consider a possible Tbilisi platform in the domain of regional trilateral discussions, not Armenia-Azerbaijan bilateral meetings. Now, the notion of a meeting between the prime ministers of Armenia and Georgia and the president of Azerbaijan is circulating.

Armenia has expressed its readiness, and is still ready, for such a meeting, but agrees that such a meeting does not seem particularly effective and promising when it is not possible to agree on even a simple joint statement expressing commitment to the elimination of hate speech and hostility.

What can you say about the process of opening regional communications? Recently, Turkey’s foreign minister also expressed the hope that Armenia will be involved in the East-West regional mechanisms, cooperating with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia.

Armenia is interested in the complete unblocking of transport and economic infrastructures in the region in accordance with the principles laid down in the tripartite declarations of November 9, 2020 and January 11,2021, and as part of larger transport projects. You are probably aware that the Armenian Intersection project was put forward by Armenia’s government by merging the north-south and east-west mechanisms.

Our proposals for the opening of regional communications are valid and we can implement them at any time within the framework of the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the countries over the roads and the observance of national laws. Basically, the only and main obstacle here is the groundless demand of an extraterritorial corridor put forward by Azerbaijan.