Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan, at a conference in the Armenian capital today entitled Yerevan Dialogue 2024, said, “lasting peace in the South Caucasus is not only possible, but also realistic.”

Pashinyan declared that thirteen articles of the draft peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan have been accepted by the parties and that another three articles, consisting mainly of two sentences, have been partially agreed to.

The forum has been organized by the Armenian Foreign Ministry and the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), an independent global think tank based in Delhi, India.

The ORF, on its website, writes: “The Yerevan Dialogue will serve as a platform bringing together policymakers, academics, civil society, and the private sector to deliberate and devise solutions to critical challenges of our times.”

Pashinyan said Armenia is ready to sign the peace agreement draft since it includes all key provisions to establish relations with Azerbaijan and that talks to iron out remaining disagreements will continue afterwards.

Regarding talks to demarcate the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Pashinyan noted that the border commissions of the two countries in April announced that the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration would serve as the guiding principle for the demarcation process.

The Declaration, signed by eleven former Soviet republics, including Armenia and Azerbaijan, led to the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and obligated each to recognize and respect each other's territorial integrity and the inviolability of the existing borders.

Pashinyan also spoke about his administration’s Crossroads of Peace project to facilitate the opening of regional transport and communication links between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and possibly with Turkey.

“This project envisages not only the opening of regional communications between Armenia and Azerbaijan, that is, railways, highways, possible cables, possible gas pipelines, power lines, and other communication channels, but it is also assumed that such a development will also take place between Armenia and Turkey,” Pashinyan said.

He said that Armenia is ready to provide a transport connection between Azerbaijan proper and its Nakhijevan enclave via Armenia territory.

Pashinyan argued that the November 9, 2020 tripartite ceasefire agreement signed by Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan clearly stipulates that, “The Republic of Armenia guarantees the safety of transport communication between the western regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Autonomous Republic of Nakhichevan in order to organize the smooth movement of citizens, vehicles and cargo in both directions."

Azerbaijan, and recently Russia, have opposed Armenian control of such a route.

Pashinyan concluded his remarks by saying there is no one treaty that can address and resolve all issues between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but that the current draft peace deal is a good starting point.

“I hope that in the near future we will have the opportunity to sign the already agreed part of the peace treaty, the agreed text and proceed to further negotiations to resolve the remaining possible issues,” Pashinyan said.