Momentum for the Establishment of Lasting Peace is Real- Armenian Foreign Minister’s Interview to Al-Jazeera

DOHA — During his official visit to the State of Qatar on April 28-29, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan gave an interview to the leading news channel Al-Jazeera TV.

In the interview Minister Mirzoyan spoke about the vision of Armenia on reaching lasting peace in the region, the process of normalization of relations with Azerbaijan, the “Crossroads of Peace” project, developed by the Government of Armenia, the situation around Gaza and Armenia’s approaches for the settlement of the conflict as well as Armenia’s relations with Russia, the EU and the U.S.

Aaddressing the question of whether there are any obstacles in the process of border delimitation and implementation of the agreed principles, Mirzoyan stated that the problem is despite the fact that our leaders have numerous times reconfirmed the mutual recognition of territorial integrity based on the Alma-Ata Declaration, we see that our neighbors are still reluctant to make concrete and strong reference to the Alma-Ata Declaration in the draft of the peace treaty, a more comprehensive document which is going to be signed by the two countries.

“As soon as we come to an agreement on this issue in the context of a peace agreement, we will get very close.

There are a couple of other issues, for instance, the unblocking of the regional transport infrastructure, which is also being discussed. In this context it is important to know that Armenia is not only ready but is interested in becoming a part of international transit routes that is why our Government came up with the initiative of Crossroads of Peace.

We believe that if this unblocking takes place, it will not only be beneficial in terms of economic prosperity for the countries of the region but also will become a significant factor of peace in the region.

So we are ready to unblock all the regional transport infrastructure, mainly with Azerbaijan, but also with Turkey, understanding that this project will help to connect East to West, North to South, and if this is implemented this will be another interesting way to connect the Gulf countries with Black Sea economic region. According to this concept, unblocking should take place with the full respect of the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the countries, but also according to the principles of equality and reciprocity,” the Armenian FM emphasized.