The provisional peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan has collapsed

Baku refused to sign the document based on articles already agreed upon by both sides.According to Azerbaijan, Armenia removed several key points.

It almost seemed done. Armenia and Azerbaijan they were one step away from signing a peace treaty provisional.Torn up, however, a few days later.

The news was made official at the beginning of September at the Ambrosetti Forum in Cernobbio, where it is intervened the Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev.From the summit stage, Aliyev expressed optimism about the prospects of peace.“For the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union we can achieve peace in Southern Caucasus — he had declared Aliyev —.The latest developments of negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia prove it.Almost 80 percent of the points of the peace treaty have been approved."

An optimism initially shared also by the prime minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, who from the "Yerevan Dialogue" forum (an international meeting which in September 2024 brought together politicians, academics, representatives of civil and business society in the Armenian capital)  had reiterated Armenia's proposal to sign the articles of the peace treaty already agreed with Azerbaijan, to have "a fundamental document" and then move on to the discussion of other issues.

Because peace has vanished

Shortly afterwards, however, the unexpected turning point.“The appeal of Armenian officials to sign the draft peace agreement with the elimination of non-agreed provisions and their attempts to postpone the resolution of the problems to the next stage are unacceptable — he said Azerbaijani Foreign Spokesperson Aykhan Hajizada —.The main condition for signing a real and sustainable peace agreement is to end Armenia's continuing territorial claim against Azerbaijan, enshrined in its multiple legal and political documents and in the Constitution of Armenia", which calls for "the reunification of 'Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh”.

As the newspaper reports OC Average, Despite the step backwards, Azerbaijan had made a similar proposal in July, asking Armenia to sign a document on the fundamental principles of a future peace treaty as an interim measure.At the time, the proposal received a cold reception from Yerevan.

Accusations of having changed the agreed document

On August 31, during a press conference, the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had proposed a similar measure, stating that the current draft of the treaty included thirteen articles that were agreed upon by both sides and another three articles partially accepted.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov claims to have received the draft treaty from Armenia with “several key points” removed from the document.

“Important aspects were not included in the draft agreement and we were told that this was the solution to the problem.In the context of a historical conflict, the agreement and each of its clauses are of great importance,” he said Bayramov.

It is unclear what exactly Armenia would have omitted from its draft.However, a new attempt to restore peace and stability in the Southern Caucasus, where in September 2023 Azerbaijan regained possession of the territory of Nagorno Karabakh disputed with Armenia for 30 years.Over the course of these decades, thousands and thousands of people have died in clashes.