Tuesday, April 30 2024 19:57

ArmInfo. During the 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 with around half a million audience.  As the press sevice of the RA MFA reports , the interview was published in  Arabic and English versions.

According to the source, during 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.  The whole interview is presented below.   

Question: Let's talk about the relations with Azerbaijan. What is the  situation now, after the developments around Nagorno-Karabakh?

Answer: Well you probably know that we are engaging in a peace  process with Azerbaijan and the Armenian side truly believes that  there is a real momentum for the establishment of lasting peace in  our region based on certain principles, for instance, the mutual  recognition of territorial integrity. The Prime Minister of Armenia  and the President of Azerbaijan have publicly reassured, we confirmed  several times that mutual recognition of the territorial integrity  between the countries should take place based on the 1991 Alma-Ata  Declaration and the further delimitation process of the border  between the two countries also should take place on the basis of  Alma-Ata Declaration. To put the long story short, this is basically  a document which was signed by eleven former Soviet Union Socialist  Republics in 1991, and in this document, these Republics stated that  former administrative borders between Socialist Republics are now  recognized as internationally recognized borders between already  independent countries.  Basically, we have the border and mutual  recognition of the territorial integrity and delimitation based on  the Alma-Ata Declaration, this means that borders existed in 1991  they should be reproduced on the ground now, and interestingly, just  recently the heads of respective border commissions of the two  countries, the Deputy Prime Ministers of both countries, came to an  agreement that delimitation should take place according to the  Alma-Ata Declaration and the Rules of Procedures of the delimitation  also should refer to this Declaration. This is one of the principles,  and if we succeed in having the reference to the Alma-Ata Declaration  as a political basis for the delimitation, as a political basis for  the mutual recognition of territorial integrity in the draft of the  peace treaty over which we negotiate, then we can say that we are  very close to the final settlement.

Question: Is there an obstacle in the process of delimitation and  implementation of the agreed principles? Is there an obstacle to  finalizing these agreements in order to reach the full normalization  of relations?

Answer: The problem is that despite the fact that our leaders have  numerous times reconfirmed the mutual recognition of territorial  integrity based on the Alma-Ata Declaration, which I just mentioned,  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. So as I said, 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.

Question: Is Yerevan, at this stage, reviewing its relations,  alliances, and affiliations with certain regional or international  formats? Is membership in the European Union and NATO on Armenia's  agenda?

Answer: You know that during a recent couple of years, there were  several incursions into the sovereign territory of the Republic of  Armenia, and we are a member of CSTO: Collective Security Treaty  Organization, the mission of which is to protect the sovereign  territories and the borders of the member states. So when we had  these invasions we did not see proper action from the Organization in  which we are. And we should also remember that the CSTO is also a  political-military alliance which, as I said, is called to protect  the borders of the member states.  The absence of a proper reaction  raised several questions in Armenian society, and we don't want to be  a part of a mechanism that does not work. We are still a member of  the CSTO, but we should work on making sure that all the mechanisms  which are prescribed work, and there is a need for that. 

Question: Therefore, does it assume different relations with Russia?

Answer: There are some issues and some questions in the context of  the Armenian-Russian relations, and yes, we have a dialogue over  these issues. Among them, there are issues on which we need a mutual  complete understanding, but I believe there are issues in all  relations. But also with the democratic reform agenda and making sure  that we have a proper level of stability along the border between  Armenia and Azerbaijan, we are in the middle of the process of  deepening our relations with some other countries, with the European  Union, with the United States of America:  they are our main partners  in terms of democratic reforms, but also economic diversification,  etc.  Now, it is already the second year that the presence of the EU  Civilian Monitoring Mission along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border is  one of the significant factors in this situation.

Question: Mr. Mirzoyan, the Israeli war in Gaza has been going on for  about six months. How does Yerevan follow this war, what are its  consequences?

Answer: We are strongly against targeting civilians, we have faced a  similar situation in Nagorno-Karabakh when more than 100.000  Armenians had to flee their ancestral homeland to save the lives of  their family members, so we stand strongly against targeting the  civilian population. Just recently we sent some humanitarian  assistance to help to ease the situation and the suffering of the  people who found themselves in the similar situation. But in general,  we have always supported a peaceful resolution of the conflict, but  also the two-state solution for the long- standing conflict and the  Palestinian issue. Besides that, we are ready to preserve the  cultural and spiritual heritage, particularly when it comes to the  written heritage we have a famous and world- known depositary for the  manuscripts so we can temporarily host the manuscripts, if there is a  need, from the conflict zone, preserve them and then return when  everything is settled.

Question: Mr. Mirzoyan, you sent humanitarian aid to Gaza, but what  about Yerevan's approach to stopping the ongoing war and making some  proposals about it? Do you discuss it in certain international  circles?

Answer: We are lobbying for a peaceful settlement and the end of  hostilities, and if official Yerevan can be of help in this context  we are more than ready.