Question (Moderator): My question is specific to understanding the restructuring of regional fragmentation. Armenia has been playing a very constructive role in an attempt to establish the foundations for regional stability. And, of course, a very important part of this is achieving regional peace. And that means to establish peace with Azerbaijan. We understand what Armenia wants, but what is attainable by virtue of at times, Azerbaijan’s not constructive position to slow down or create obstacles for regional stability. From your perspective, Foreign Minister, how do you envision what peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan can actually look like and what can actually be achieved? Now, what we want and what substantively in reality can be achieved?

Answer (Ararat Mirzoyan):  Well, good afternoon everyone, dear colleagues, thank you for this question. Basically earlier today, his Excellency, Prime Minister of Armenia, has already reflected upon these topics, but again, coming back to this very important topic, I would like to say that the South Caucasus is very much like many other regions and areas on this planet. We have a long history here with our neighbors and I can assure you that there have been times when we have been cooperating and also we have been interesting for the rest of the world, and we have been important player in global politics, we all together in South Caucasus have been important crossroads for trade routes etc. 

But also, there have been times when we have been killing each other, and you know, this region, like probably many other regions in the world, now we think we have seen too much blood. We have a real chance now, we - Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, we have a real chance to close the page of enmity in this region and open an era of stability and peace. And we believe that this will be beneficial for all of us. Not only the three of us will benefit from this, but also our neighbors, the larger region, and all the players and nations all over the world. We are really at the crossroads, and we have to choose. We in Armenia we have made up our minds and we chose the peace agenda because we believe in the benefits of peace, but as anyone can assume, it’s very much like dancing. I really love repeating this: you cannot dance alone, you need the other partner willing to dance with you. So, this is a choice that should be made not only by Armenia, but also by Georgia, but by Azerbaijan. 

Luckily, we are happy and lucky enough to enjoy very good and brotherly relations with Georgia, but also we are looking forward to establishing peace and stability with Azerbaijan as well. And is that realistic? I think yes. And we have examples before our eyes. My distinguished colleague, the deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs of Luxemburg, probably can assure that in Europe, they also have had tough neighborhoods, tough conflicts. They also have seen enough blood and they were strong enough to change the direction in that specific region, and all of us sitting in this hall can see that decision brought prosperity to Europe. Also, the distinguished president of Lithuania probably can say that they also have seen enough conflicts. So this is a decision that everyone should make and our determination is peace. 

What realistically could be done? We already see some tangible steps, we see the delimitation of the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan has begun. We see that there is a discussion about unblocking and opening all regional transport and economic infrastructure. We see that, at least from our side, there is a very constructive dialogue regarding the peace treaty, and we all know that this is another interesting nuance of this issue. We notice that here in South Caucasus, we are interesting to the rest of the world when we are cooperating, and of course, we can survive being fragmented, we can survive somehow separately. We have been surviving for a couple of thousand years here, and hopefully, we will continue living here as a free nation for another couple of thousands of years, but when we are united, when we are cooperating, at least when we have some environment for cooperation and collaboration, tolerance here in South Caucasus then the interest of the rest of the world, interest towards South Caucasus is much higher. We are interesting all over the world, and this is my belief, all together as a South Caucasus. So here I probably would like to stop and give a chance to the other panellists and look forward to an interesting dialogue. Thank you. 

Question (Moderator)։ Mr. Foreign Minister, I would like your honest opinion on the role of regional power actors with respect to the peace process that we talked about and what they are playing constructive or potentially concerning role. First, I would like your assessment on Türkiye’s role and second the role of Russia in the Armenia-Azerbaijani peace process.

Answer (Ararat Mirzoyan): Well, thank you very much. This is quite an interesting question. 

Indeed, I know how many of us perceive Russia and its role, but I would like to state that Russia has already played a very constructive role. Russia is the country who succeeded to mediate and then signed a ceasefire after the war of 2020, and then Russia is the country who started the mediation process and brought the two countries Armenia and Azerbaijan to the table of negotiations. This is a role that later was continued by the United States, the European Union, other countries and partners like France, Germany. I would like to remind that the most recent meeting between me and my Azerbaijani counterpart took place in Kazakhstan. 

So again, we are thankful to all those countries who have tried to bring the positions of Armenia and Azerbaijan closer. But also, we are not naive. We, of course, understand that all the countries, everybody in the world, have their own interests and these interests do not necessarily always coincide with the interests of the Republic of Armenia in this case, and I’m pretty much sure that the case of the Republic of Azerbaijan is the same. This is theoretical axiomatic truth I think, but nevertheless, not necessarily the interests and the vision of Russia and Republic of Armenia coincide, and you know I would like to have my Russian counterpart as well to be sitting with us and participating in deliberations. 

By the way, I’m enjoying this momentum where we can hear the distinguished representatives of Luxemburg, Lithuania and at the same time the distinguished representative of Iran. This is all about “Yerevan Dialogue”. So we should listen to each other more, we should be taking into consideration each other’s positions more and, as I said earlier today, this is the chance. If we have a chance, the dialogue and the conversations are the only path. 

So, coming back again to your question, in the same logic, I would like to have my distinguished colleague from Türkiye participating in this deliberation as well. As well as I wish we have had signed the peace treaty, so I could also have a chance to see my Azerbaijani counterpart here. 

Türkiye can, of course, understandably play a crucial role in this process of establishing peace and stability in the South Caucasus. You must probably be aware that we have launched a dialogue with Türkiye and it’s quite a long time that we have had this dialogue. There have been many small or larger steps that the two sides, we implemented in terms of building more confidence among each other. But also as you are aware we have agreed to establish diplomatic relations: we don’t have diplomatic relations with Türkiye so far. And also open borders between Armenia and Türkiye. So, I would say that we have a good understanding, and we have even shared a vision of the future of our relations, but also as everywhere we also have some complications as well. 

You know that very often in Türkiye, they connect Armenia-Türkiye normalization with the finalization of Armenia-Azerbaijani normalization. Well, I personally don’t think this is the most efficient way of building relations. On the contrary, if we have tangible progress and open borders with Türkiye, then obviously, this would have a very tangible and positive effect on Armenia-Azerbaijani relations normalization. Nevertheless, the process continues, and Russia, Türkiye, Iran, and all the other partners, Luxemburg and Lithuania, they all can have a positive role in the process of normalization between Armenia and Azerbaijan and bring a new era of peace to our region.