Aliyev Insists Armenia Must Accept Azerbaijan’s Terms of Peace Deal

BAKU — Armenia has no choice but to accept Azerbaijan’s terms of a peace deal, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Monday ahead of fresh talks between the two nations.

“Armenia, which is trying to find a new master and is throwing itself into others’ arms, should realize that its only option is to accept all the conditions of Azerbaijan and give up its territorial claims to Azerbaijan,” he said during a visit to Nagorno-Karabakh captured by Baku last September.

The warning came just over a week after Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met in Munich for talks hosted by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The two leaders agreed that their foreign ministers will meet soon for further discussions on an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that the ministers will meet in Berlin on Wednesday and Thursday. It did not say whether German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will attend the talks.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said earlier in the day that Armenian and Azerbaijani officials will negotiate “in the coming days.” He noted that despite a lack of face-to-face contacts between them, the two sides have continued to exchange written proposals on the peace treaty in recent months.

Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanyan said last week that they still disagree on some key terms of the treaty. Pashinyan complained, meanwhile, that the Azerbaijani leadership remains reluctant to recognize Armenia’s borders “without ambiguity.”

Pashinyan went on to accuse Azerbaijan of planning military aggression against Armenia.