Baku, Yerevan Hold Fresh Talks On Border Delimitation

YEREVAN — Senior Armenian and Azerbaijani officials held on Wednesday another round of direct negotiations on the delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, a key hurdle to a comprehensive peace deal between the two nations.

The sixth joint session of Armenian and Azerbaijani government commissions on border demarcation and delimitation took place at a relatively peaceful section of the heavily militarized frontier. It was co-chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Shahin Mustfayev.

The two sides issued very short and identical statements that shed no light on the agenda of the talks or give other details. Nor did they report any agreements.

Speaking in Yerevan earlier in the day, parliament speaker Alen Simonyan said that the Armenian side hopes the fresh talks will bring more clarity to the delimitation issue. He indicated that Baku and Yerevan continue to disagree on a concrete mechanism for delineating the border.

“We can show, with a deviation of meters, where the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan passes,” Simonyan told reporters. “Not just show some imaginary maps but maps with legal basis under them.”

Armenia insists on using the most recent Soviet military maps drawn in the 1970s. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev reiterated Baku’s rejection of the idea in early January, saying that it favors the Armenian side.

Aliyev and other Azerbaijani officials have said that an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty should be signed before the delimitation and demarcation of the border. Yerevan insists, however, that the treaty must spell out legally binding principles of the delimitation process. Armenian analysts and opposition figures believe that Aliyev wants to leave the door open to Azerbaijani territorial claims to Armenia.