I. Aliyev is optimistic about a possible agreement after it was announced that the marking of the common border had begun.
The demarcation of the shared border has sparked protests in Armenia, which is still reeling from Azerbaijan’s seizure of control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region in a lightning one-day offensive last fall.
On Tuesday, teams from both countries began physical inspections along a stretch of the border that both countries agreed to mark on Soviet-era maps.
“We are as close as ever,” Aliyev said in Baku, adding that “now we have a common understanding of what a peace agreement should look like, we just need to discuss the details.”
“Both sides need time […] We have the political will to do it,” he added.
Last month, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan agreed to Baku’s demand to return four border villages that belonged to Azerbaijan during the Soviet Union.
Armenian protests
Aliyev said on Tuesday that he accepted Kazakhstan’s proposal to hold a meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers.
Several countries, including Russia, Iran, the United States, France and Germany, have tried to mediate between the historic rivals. However, years of negotiations failed to achieve a breakthrough.
I. Aliyev downplayed the need for a third party in the negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“We are not talking about any mediation because what is happening now on our border shows that when we are left alone […] we can come to an agreement faster than otherwise,” he said.
The interior ministries of both countries said on Tuesday that experts had been sent to investigate the border area and to clarify the coordinates of the demarcation line.
After this news spread, new rallies started in Armenia. Protesters blocked traffic in several parts of the Armenia-Sakartvel highway, fearing that Yerevan could lose more land.
On Tuesday, Armenia said it rejected “the transfer of any part of the sovereign territory of Armenia.”
The four abandoned settlements to be returned to Azerbaijan – Lower Askipara, Baghanis Airum, Cheiriml and Gizilhadjil – were occupied by Armenian forces in the 1910s and forced their ethnic Azerbaijani residents to flee.
However, Armenian residents of nearby villages fear that they will be isolated from the rest of the country and that some of their homes may fall into Azerbaijani territory.
This territory is strategically important for landlocked Armenia.
In addition, several small sections of the highway to Sakartvel, a vital trade artery, may be handed over.
“Peace Sign”
N. Pašinian emphasized that it is necessary to resolve the border dispute in order to “avoid a new war”.
On Saturday, he announced that the Russian border guards stationed in the region since 1992 would be replaced.
“Russian border guards will withdraw from the territory, and Armenian and Azerbaijani border guards will cooperate in protecting the state border themselves,” he said.
He said the demarcation of the border was a “significant change” that meant the two countries “now have a border instead of a contact line, which is a sign of peace.”
Azerbaijan regained control of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region in a lightning-quick one-day offensive last fall, effectively ending three decades of Armenian separatist rule in the enclave.
However, continued territorial claims continue to raise the risk of further escalation.
Baku has claims to four other villages in exclaves deeper into Armenian territory.
He also calls for the creation of a land corridor through Armenia that would connect Azerbaijan with the Nakhchivan exclave.
Yerevan, for its part, points to its exclave in Azerbaijan and the lands seized by Baku outside Nagorno-Karabakh over the past three years.
