The youth living in Armenia want to see a prosperous country that lives not in conflict but in peace, enabling it to reach its full potential, the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ani Badalyan said in an interview with PassBlue held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly High-Level Week, Armenpress reprots.
During the interview, Badalyan addressed issues related to the agreements signed between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Washington on August 8, the next steps to be taken as a result of those agreements, as well as the normalization of relations between Yerevan and Ankara and its significance.
She expressed optimism regarding the peace agreement initialed by Yerevan and Baku and its eventual signing, presenting the broader context of the related agreements in detail.
- What are the next steps after the initialing of the Aug. 8 agreement?
- The initialing was a big milestone for us. We reaffirmed that the borders of the two countries are those recognized by the Almaty Declaration of 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed. We agreed upon the fundamental principles, the jurisdiction, the sovereignty, territorial integrity and, of course, inviolability of borders. We find this to be a very important basis for further work.
We consider that the peace is established. This is not only the initialing of the peace treaty, but there were also public announcements during the August trilateral meeting attended by the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and President Trump. There were very vocal, solid commitments that the peace is established. This is the understanding on our side, and we believe this is the understanding on the other side and internationally.
We will be working towards the signing of the peace treaty. In March, we said that we were ready to sign. We immediately said: ‘Let’s talk, let’s see the time and the venue, we are ready to sign.’ This has not changed. We hope that the implementation of the TRIPP project will foster the unblocking of regional communications not only in one part but in overall regional communications. Again, it is not only about Armenia, Azerbaijan and South Caucasus. Nowadays, countries are looking for more routes, alternative connections. This can be part of a bigger project, the Middle Corridor, and other projects that aim to connect Asia to Europe and vice versa. Any connectivity project being operated in Armenia stays under the sovereignty of Armenia. This is very important for us. We will be discussing other technical details, we will decide upon who is operating and how, but it will stay under the sovereignty of Armenia.
-Will there be negotiations regarding Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan?
-Yes, we say the peace is established, but it means that it will also resolve humanitarian issues. There are the Armenian prisoners of war in Azerbaijan, and we are discussing this topic, first and foremost, with Azerbaijan, and we look for positive solutions. There are issues of missing persons. These humanitarian issues are part of the bigger picture and can, of course, consolidate the peace that we have established.
-Currently, through an agreement, Russian soldiers patrol Armenia’s southern border with Iran. Does the peace deal mean the soldiers will leave?
-This is regulated by the bilateral agreement with Russia, so this doesn’t relate to the peace agreement that we have initialed.
-Will the Soviet-built train that used to run along Armenia’s southern border with Iran be revived thanks to the peace agreement?
-We are looking into the logistics, of course, of the territory. It’s going to be a transit route. It’s not a corridor in a sense that you might have heard. It’s a route that stays under the sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia.
-In his General Assembly speech on Sept. 23, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Türkiye said that negotiations about normalizing relations between Armenia and his country are going well. Can you confirm that?
-Yes, there is a high level of political dialogue between Armenia and Türkiye. We are implementing projects; for example, renovation of a bridge at the border. When we speak about connectivity and normalization of relations, stability, peace in the region, there is a bigger picture. But, of course, whatever we do, it is aimed for the full normalization of relations between the two countries. Our expectation is that initialing the [Armenia-Azerbaijan] peace treaty will promote the normalization of relations with Türkiye, which means opening the border, because that’s very important.
-Some Azerbaijani officials say that the constitution of Armenia needs to be changed for the final peace agreement to happen. Is that being discussed?
-The peace treaty doesn’t say anything about the constitution. From the beginning, our position has been very clear that there is no problem with the Armenian constitution. The peace treaty stipulates the recognition of territorial integrity between the two countries. For us, this is the legal basis for the normalization of relations between the countries. At the same time, you may know that the ruling party, which has been in power in Armenia since 2018, announced that there will be constitutional changes, so there probably will be a new constitution. But this is an internal issue. It will be the population and citizens of Armenia who will vote for the new constitution.
-How did the new peace deal come about?
-It was a very hard process, as you can imagine. After a conflict, it’s not easy to go and talk about peace, especially considering there are pending issues, there are feelings, and there is a certain understanding. But it’s been around three and a half to four years of intense negotiations. We started exchanging drafts of the agreement and meeting between the foreign ministers and the leaders of the countries. Every single article, every single sentence, has been discussed very thoroughly. And this year, we reached this agreement announcing that both parties agree on the text.
The leadership of the US and President Trump’s administration was very important because they managed to hold the Aug. 8 summit. We also signed bilateral memoranda, which means cooperation on different topics. Yes, it will be artificial intelligence, it will be energy, different topics which are important for Armenia.
There is a question in Armenian media to most of our officials, what is the guarantee? Our approach is that this creates benefits for all — first, for Armenia and Azerbaijan, because we are the two main parties, but also the other countries interested in peace in the South Caucasus and having this territory stable to reap economic benefits.
-I read that Azerbaijan was ready to attack southern Armenia before the peace deal was initialed in August. Is that correct?
-We had signs of escalation during those years. There were shootings at the border, so you could not exclude the possibility that at any moment there could have been an escalation. Thank God, we didn’t have the escalation.
-If we look at the other peace agreements that Trump has announced in his second term, some look more robust than others, which appear to need much more work. Are you confident that this initialing will lead to a comprehensive peace deal?
-Yes. But it’s also about implementation. I would confirm from Armenia’s side, but we also hear from the US side, that there is high readiness to immediately look into the implementation. So, it’s not just a paper. There is a readiness and political will to bring it into life.
-How does it feel to be part of an Armenian administration that is carrying out a big, potentially enriching change in your country?
-The youth living in Armenia want to see a prosperous Armenia, want to see an Armenia which lives not in conflict but in a position where it can reach its potential. We have huge potential in innovation, and I think we need to use this chance to make Armenia as great economically as possible.
