BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 8. Azerbaijan and Armenia, hopefully – we’re taping this here today, but on Friday of this week, we’ll be here to sign an agreement and the beginning of a peace deal there, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during a briefing, Trend reports.
“On the broader issue of peace, the President is committed to peace and committed to being the President of peace. Azerbaijan and Armenia, hopefully – we’re taping this here today, but on Friday of this week, we’ll be here to sign an agreement and the beginning of a peace deal there,” he said.
Joint Declaration is expected to be signed between President Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan following their meeting in Washington, in the presence of U.S. President Donald Trump
Azerbaijan has put forward two main conditions for signing a peace agreement with Armenia:
- A joint appeal to the OSCE regarding the dissolution of the Minsk Group;
- Amendments to the Constitution of Armenia to eliminate territorial claims against Azerbaijan.
The Joint Declaration, which is expected to be signed, confirms that Azerbaijan and Armenia will submit a joint appeal to the OSCE Secretary General regarding the dissolution of the Minsk Group. It also recognizes the necessity of taking further steps to sign and ratify the Agreement on the Establishment of Interstate Relations and Peace between the two countries following the initialing of its text. In other words, the need to amend Armenia’s constitution is confirmed as one of the key conditions for concluding a final peace agreement.
Following the Patriotic War, President Ilham Aliyev repeatedly stated that there must be an unobstructed land connection between Azerbaijan’s mainland and Nakhchivan. This condition, put forward by President Aliyev, has now been accepted by Armenia.
The Joint Declaration to be signed confirms the establishment of unobstructed transit between mainland Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan. Thus, the Zangazur Corridor is becoming a reality.