Armenia Offers to Create Bilateral Mechanism with Azerbaijan to Probe Truce Violation Claims

YEREVAN — Armenia has proposed to Azerbaijan the creation of a bilateral mechanism to investigate ceasefire violation claims, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.

“In recent periods, the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Azerbaijan has been periodically disseminating information claiming that units of the Defense Ministry of the Republic of Armenia are violating the ceasefire regime. Despite the fact that the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia has denied all these accusations, Azerbaijan continues the dissemination of such information,” the PM’s Office said in a statement.

“In continuation of the statement made by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia on June 15, 2024, and based on the government’s will to prevent tension, the staff of the Prime Minister of Armenia proposed to the staff of the President of Azerbaijan, through diplomatic channels, to create a bilateral mechanism for investigating ceasefire regime violations,” it added.

The European Union quickly welcomed the proposal through its special envoy for the South Caucasus, Toivo Klaar. Writing on X, Klaar said the EU has “helped organize similar meetings in Georgia and is ready to share its experiences” with the two South Caucasus states.

As of Monday afternoon, Azerbaijan had not reacted to the proposal. Its Defense Ministry alleged another Armenian truce violation later on Saturday, which Yerevan denied as well.

Baku has previously rejected repeated Armenian calls for a mutual withdrawal of the two countries’ troops from their long and volatile border. Observers believe that it is unlikely to accept the proposed joint inquiries either and will instead keep up pressure on Yerevan in ongoing talks on an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty.

On June 19, the Armenian Foreign Ministry claimed that Azerbaijan might be planning to unleash a “new aggression” against Armenia after hosting the COP29 summit in November. It pointed to Baku’s angry reaction to the latest French-Armenian arms deal signed in Paris.