Azerbaijan reportedly rejects Blinken’s offer for talks with Armenia

Azerbaijani state media has reported that Azerbaijan rejected a proposal by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to hold a meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers, unwilling to accept US mediation, which Blinken allegedly ‘insisted on’. 

On Thursday, Azerbaijani pro-government news agency APA, citing anonymous sources, reported that Azerbaijan had rejected Blinken’s proposal to hold a meeting between Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan during the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Malta. 

According to APA’s diplomatic sources, ‘Blinken insisted on mediating for this meeting to take place’. They claimed that with this initiative, Blinken ‘sought to reintroduce the US into the peace process’. 

The US is not actively participating in the peace process between Azerbaijan and Armenia at this time. 

The APA stated that Azerbaijan ‘categorically refused’ Blinken’s proposal because ‘the Biden Administration, in general, pursues an unjust and biased policy towards Azerbaijan’.

‘For this reason, Azerbaijan does not want the US to participate in the peace agenda at all and does not consider it appropriate,’ a diplomatic source told the APA.

That same day, the Armenian Foreign Ministry announced that they had agreed to Blinken’s proposal to hold a meeting.

In late September, Bayramov and Mirzoyan met in New York at Blinken’s initiative. Following that meeting, the US State department reported that Blinken had ‘encouraged continued progress by both countries to finalise an agreement as soon as possible’.

‘Armenia should step back’

Over the last few months, Azerbaijan has repeatedly alleged that the main roadblock to finalising the peace process was the purported territorial claims still embedded in the Armenian Constitution. However, recently, Azerbaijani authorities have again begun referencing the concept of Western Azerbaijan.

‘Western Azerbaijan’ is an irredentist concept commonly used by the Azerbaijani authorities to lay claim to the territory of modern-day Armenia.

The Western Azerbaijan Community recently organised an international conference in Baku focused on the ‘right to return’ for Azerbaijanis expelled from Armenia. 

During the conference, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev delivered a letter, in which he highlighted that the Armenian government should engage in dialogue with the Western Azerbaijan Community.

According to Aliyev, ‘Armenia has to embark on negotiations with the Community and take tangible steps to restore the fundamental rights of Western Azerbaijanis. In addition, Armenia has to allow a UNESCO fact-finding mission to monitor the situation regarding the destruction and distortion of the historical and cultural heritage of the Azerbaijani people and be open to cooperation in this area.’

In his letter Aliyev linked ‘the territorial claims against Azerbaijan still embedded in the Armenian constitution, and the rapid armament of this country hinder the lasting peace between the two countries,’ a statement which was reiterated by Bayramov in Malta. 

Bayramov,  in his speech on Thursday at the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting, touched on the bilateral relationship between Azerbaijan and Armenia and highlighted that achievements of the commissions of delimitation and demarcation ‘demonstrate that direct bilateral negotiations are the best and the only viable way to move forward in the normalisation process, which has been consistently advocated for by Azerbaijan.’

However, Bayramov added that ‘notwithstanding the progress, there are persistent challenges on the path of normalisation. Its finalisation depends on implementing in action Armenia’s declared commitment to respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan, including by removing territorial claims still embedded in its Constitution and other legislative acts.’ 

He highlighted that at this ‘critical juncture’, there is ‘a historic opportunity for Azerbaijan and Armenia to turn the page of confrontation and establish good-neighborly relations’, and that ‘all efforts must be directed at finalising the normalisation process based on mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity.’

In his conversation with the US Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affair, Joshua Hack, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Elnur Mammadov shared the same line as Bayramov. 

According to the APA, during the meeting, Mammadov emphasised that despite significant progress in the peace agreement negotiations, the remaining claims to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan in the Constitution of Armenia still exist. 

Mammadov also claimed that Armenia should step back from ongoing claims to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan in international organisations and courts. 

‘No basis for escalation’

Also on Thursday, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan stated during his meeting with his Slovenian counterpart in Malta, that if political will is demonstrated, the peace treaty could be finalised and signed promptly.

Earlier this week Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan refuted the recent allegations in Azerbaijani media which suggested that  Armenia was preparing for a new war against Azerbaijan. Pashinyan instead expressed hope that they would ‘activate the work’ on the draft peace treaty.

‘Ninety percent of the work has been done, and it remains to make the final effort and sign the peace treaty,’ Pashinyan said, adding that ‘there is simply no basis for escalation in Armenia-Azerbaijan relations in the region.

Artur Hovhannisyan, the Secretary of Armenia’s ruling Civil Contract faction in parliament, commented on Aliyev’s statements, noting that various comments have been across a variety of political levels.

‘But this shouldn’t create the impression as if the talks have entered a deadlock. No, not at all. The negotiations continue,’ Hovhannisyan said.

However, he refrained from commenting if the return of Azerbaijanis to Armenia was  in the agenda of the negotiations.

Commenting on Azerbaijan’s refusal of the US offer to organise a meeting, Hovhannisyan said that Armenia does not approve of the refusal, because meetings are designed to strengthen and advance the peace process.