Aliyev Repeats Demands For Peace With Armenia

 Azeri President Ilham Aliyev, speaking at a press conference with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Baku, reiterated his demands for signing a peace treaty with Armenia.

On March 13th, Armenian and Azerbaijani officials both stated that they had agreed on the text for a formal peace treaty. However Aliyev has stated since then there are conditions that need to be met for the peace treaty to be signed.

The first demand is that the OSCE Minsk Group, created in 1992 to monitor the conflict must be dissolved. This demand was originally made by Aliyev in 2020 after the 45 day war which saw Azerbaijan regain most of its previously occupied territory. 

The second demand is regarding Armenia’s constitution, which has a provision in it which calls for the unification of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh, which Aliyev says amounts to a territorial claim against Azerbaijan. 

Aliyev has taken the position since these are conditions that Azerbaijan has set for a long time, Armenia should not be surprised by these demands. Stating, "Our conditions are known to Armenia, they are not new. We have been putting forward these conditions for a long time. However, we have not received any serious response from Armenia to date….”.

The Prospects of Pashinyan being able to meet these demands may be low at the moment. In recent municipal elections in Armenia, his party, Civil Contract, lost to an opposition that is against any concessions to Azerbaijan, which they claim Pashinyan has given too many, and who also has portrayed Pashinyan as too weak to deal with Baku.