Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty complex issue, says Russian diplomat

MOSCOW (AA): Armenia and Azerbaijan’s readiness to sign a peace treaty does not imply that they are willing to accept any conditions, a senior Russian diplomat has said.

Denis Gonchar, head of the Foreign Ministry’s Fourth Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Department, told Russian state news agency TASS in an interview that a number of complex issues related to the peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan have yet to be resolved.​​​​​​​

“The most important of them is the issue of ensuring the security and observance of the universally recognized rights of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh,” he noted.

While international support for the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace agreement is important, Gonchar said Western countries should not hasten its implementation because the quality of the document is more important than the speed with which it is signed.

“The timing of the signing should be determined by the parties themselves. The task of responsible mediators is not to force the negotiation process … but to facilitate the achievement of sustainable, long-term agreements.

“A hastily prepared, ‘raw’ peace treaty will not bring sustainable peace to the region,” he stressed.