The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan made no significant progress toward a peace deal following fresh talks in Istanbul on Friday.
In a brief statement, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Jeyhun Bayramov, “agreed to continue efforts to finalize and conclude the agreement in a short period of time.” However, the ministry did not provide details of the discussions, which took place after a ministerial meeting of the “Consultative Regional Platform 3+3,” comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia, and Turkey.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey announced that a Joint Declaration was adopted following the third meeting of the 3+3 Regional Cooperation Platform. The Declaration emphasized the role of regional economic cooperation in fostering confidence among countries, as well as contributing to prosperity and stability. Participants agreed to explore cooperation opportunities in transport, communication, trade, energy, investment, and connectivity.
During their previous talks, hosted by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in New York on September 26, Bayramov and Mirzoyan had pledged to “put additional efforts towards the conclusion of the Agreement on Peace and the Establishment of Interstate Relations in the shortest possible period.” Despite these assurances, the two sides appear not to have made meaningful progress in the subsequent weeks.
Azerbaijan has continued to reject an Armenian proposal to sign an initial agreement excluding contentious issues. Instead, Azerbaijan insists that any peace deal must include a change to Armenia’s constitution, which it claims contains territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Bayramov reiterated this precondition during the 3+3 meeting earlier that day.
A few days prior, an Armenian lawmaker revealed that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had proposed intensive two-day talks between the foreign ministers to resolve one or two outstanding articles of the peace treaty, aiming to finalize the agreement before next month’s COP29 summit in Baku. Azerbaijan has not confirmed or responded to this proposal.
Meanwhile, Armenian-Turkish relations remain stalled. In July 2022, Armenian Parliament Vice-Speaker Ruben Rubinyan and senior Turkish diplomat Serdar Kilic reached agreements following several negotiation rounds, aiming to open the border for diplomatic passport holders and citizens of third countries.
At the 3+3 meeting, Mirzoyan highlighted that Armenia had completed construction and technical preparations at the Margara border checkpoint on the Armenia-Turkey border. Despite this, Turkey continues to condition the opening of the border and the establishment of diplomatic relations on a resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict that is acceptable to Azerbaijan. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has further stated that an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal should include a land corridor through Armenia to Azerbaijan’s Nakhichevan exclave.