Toward the end of July, opposition media sent a written inquiry to the Office of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan asking whether Yerevan would send a delegation to the UN Climate Change Conference (COP-29) scheduled for November in Baku. The move came following an announcement from Azerbaijani presidential advisor Hikmet Hajiyev that such an invitation had been sent. There had also been speculation that Baku was seeking to initial the basic principles for any peace agreement by the time of the event. Pashinyan’s office replied, saying he would address these issues in a press conference after returning from a vacation in early August. Pashinyan has consistently used live press conferences to clarify and promote his policies, especially regarding normalization between Armenia and Azerbaijan. While the said press conference did occur, it did so only at the very end of August, during which Pashinyan did not rule out sending a high-level delegation to COP-29 . It took place one day after a regulatory document for the respective Armenian and Azerbaijani border commissions handling delimitation and demarcation was finalized and signed by both sides. The agreement is significant because it must also be approved by the constitutional court and ratified by parliament.
As domestic discontent grows in Armenia and geopolitical tensions between Armenia and Russia, Azerbaijan develop, however, how Pashinyan addresses the ongoing peace process with Azerbaijan will determine his place in the future of Armenian politics.The full piece is available here.
The press conference also aimed to clarify Armenia’s stance on various issues related to an agreement on normalizing relations between the two countries before November. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has emphasized this deadline, while Pashinyan and senior officials, such as Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, have expressed hopes for an earlier resolution and a signed treaty. Although progress on border delimitation and demarcation has been notable, the press conference itself was more of a mixed bag. The event highlighted the notable differences that remain between the sides and suggested that Pashinyan may be trying to balance multiple objectives simultaneously. […] On September 10, speaking at the first inaugural Yerevan Dialogue conference, Pashinyan reiterated that a peace treaty with Azerbaijan was realistic even though Baku has ruled out the signing of an incomplete agreement with the constitutional impasse still unresolved. He also emphasized his own regional connectivity project, the Crossroads of Peace. Baku and Moscow consider this issue addressed in the trilateral ceasefire statement ending the Karabakh War in 2020. Pashinyan disagrees but has no intention of withdrawing his signature from the agreement. With Armenia due to enter another election cycle and a globally uncertain 2025, the next few months will be critical in shaping the future of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations and Pashinyan’s political legacy.
