Common Space: There is much work that yet has to be done to ensure that Armenia-Azerbaijan peace is lasting and sustainable

Azerbaijan has a habit of not knowing when to stop. Its demand for changes to the Armenian constitution is according to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry “long-lasting and principled”. But making that a condition for signing a peace agreement is disingenuous, since changes to the Armenian constitution will be a long process which will inevitably be caught in Armenia’s messy domestic political dialogue, Common Space writes.

As noted, the demand related to the Minsk Group is more realistic, since this structure has not worked for years. Here the onus is on the OSCE, and the three co-chair countries (France, Russia and the US) rather than on Armenia. To put it as a condition for signing a peace agreement is at best not helpful, and one can even call it bizarre. The sides now have to agree on the time and place for signing the peace agreement. The place is not important, but the agreement should be signed as soon as possible and without delay. The fact that Armenia and Azerbaijan have successfully concluded discussions on the text of a peace agreement is a step in the right direction. But only a step! There is much work that yet has to be done to ensure that Armenia-Azerbaijan peace is lasting and sustainable. Any peace agreement to be worth the paper it is written on must have buy- in of key stakeholders and the population at large. Here the work has hardly begun. The Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders, Nikol Pashinyan and Ilham Aliyev are very different and they preside on very different governance models. But both sit atop vertical structures which give them a lot of self-confidence and a belief in their power. This is what enabled them to negotiate and agree a peace agreement. But now the situation moves to a new phase. This will require a different approach and skills. “If ever there was a time for dialogue and confidence-building between Armenians and Azerbaijanis it is now. Dialogue must now become a norm, and involve all layers of society. This will be challenging as the situation is still fragile, and an error or a provocation, can impact badly on all. But it is a risk that has to be accepted and the dialogue process must be broadened,” reads the article. The governments in Baku and Yerevan must galvanize the energy of the international community in support of their peace agreement.