Armenia must negotiate in good faith to achieve peace agreement, says Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman.
Respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty is crucial to ensure stability in the South Caucasus region, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Thursday.
“Respect to territorial integrity and sovereignty must prevail in our region, & any escalation must be addressed based on norms and principles of international law,” Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Aykhan Hajizada said on Twitter.
Hajizada further noted that the international community also supports this narrative.
His comments came in response to a statement by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, who wrote on Twitter that a peace treaty will be achieved between Baku and Yerevan.
“To get to such a peace treaty, Armenia must negotiate in good faith,” Hajizada also said.
Also on Thursday, Armenian officials claimed Azerbaijani troops opened fire and killed an Armenian soldier on the border.
Armenia’s Investigative Committee said an Armenian soldier “was fatally wounded when Azerbaijani troops opened fire in Eraskh” in the southeast part of the border on Wednesday.
Occasional shootouts have broken out along the countries’ shared border since a Russian-brokered cease-fire ended their latest fighting in the autumn of 2020.
On March 15, Azerbaijan accused Armenia of opening fire on its army positions along the border and in Karabakh.
Last week, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian warned against a “very high risk of escalation” in Karabakh. Armenia has also accused Russian peacekeepers of failing to protect ethnic Armenians living in the restive region.
The European Union last month deployed an expanded monitoring mission to the Armenian side of the border as Western engagement grows in a region that is traditionally the Kremlin’s sphere of influence.
Under the 2020 cease-fire agreement, Yerevan ceded to Baku swathes of territory it had controlled for decades.
Relations between the two former Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.
In the fall of 2020, in 44 days of clashes, Azerbaijan liberated several cities, villages, and settlements from Armenian occupation. The Russian-brokered peace agreement is celebrated as a triumph in Azerbaijan.
