YEREVAN—Baku and Yerevan are set to resume discussions on a treaty in December after COP29, as confirmed by Hikmet Hajiyev, assistant to the president of Azerbaijan. Hajiyev stated in an interview with TASS that while Azerbaijan’s current focus is on COP29, the talks will shift gears next month. “Starting in December, a new phase of negotiations will commence, centering on the continued discussions regarding the peace agreement text between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” he said.
Hajiyev noted that several key issues in the draft agreement remain unresolved. “Negotiations and expert-level discussions are ongoing,” he said, claiming that Armenia’s delayed responses to Azerbaijan’s proposals have hindered progress. “Beginning in December, we will initiate a new phase in the process.”
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov echoed Hajiyev’s sentiments, emphasizing that while core provisions of the draft have been largely agreed upon, some critical points still require consensus. “I cannot reveal specific figures at this moment, but important issues remain to be addressed,” Bayramov said. “Azerbaijan is the initiator of this process, and we are committed to seeing it through to completion,” he added.
COP29, the 29th annual Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is taking place from November 11-22 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The conference is a crucial international platform for global leaders, environmental activists, scientists and policymakers to discuss and negotiate actions to combat climate change, reduce global emissions and promote sustainable development.
Originally, both Armenia and Azerbaijan vetoed each other’s candidacy to host COP29. However, in a significant diplomatic move, Armenia decided to relinquish its bid to host and instead supported Azerbaijan’s candidacy. This decision was seen as a gesture of goodwill and an effort to demonstrate Armenia’s commitment to peace-building and regional cooperation, particularly following the 2020 war in Artsakh and ongoing tensions with Azerbaijan.
Hajiyev also commented on Armenia’s absence from COP29, stating that despite having registered delegates, there has been no official response from Armenia regarding their attendance. In response, Armenia’s Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan denied this claim, stating that no official request or registration had been submitted by any Armenian official for participation. He did, however, acknowledge the possibility that some civil society organizations may have taken independent action in this regard.
Armenia’s absence at the COP has sparked political debate, with Abraham Gasparyan, director of the Genesis Armenia think tank, criticizing Azerbaijan’s narrative surrounding Armenia’s non-participation. Gasparyan accused Baku of spreading propaganda and framing Armenia’s absence as a deliberate snub to global climate discussions.
“Azerbaijan likely knew in advance of Armenia’s non-participation and began using this as part of a broader narrative,” Gasparyan said, arguing that Azerbaijan is attempting to portray Armenia as uninterested in global peace while positioning itself as a peace-seeking nation.
He added that Armenia’s absence at COP29 is a missed opportunity to address significant political and humanitarian issues on an international stage. “If Armenia couldn’t send its head of state, at the very least, the president or deputy prime minister should have attended COP29,” he stated. “They should have come prepared with urgent issues, including the return of prisoners held illegally by Azerbaijan, to ensure Armenia’s voice was heard.”
Gasparyan highlighted the ongoing plight of Armenian prisoners detained in Azerbaijan since the 2020 war, arguing that this humanitarian issue should have been prioritized in Armenia’s international advocacy. He emphasized the importance of platforms like COP29 for smaller nations to spotlight concerns that might otherwise be overlooked. International gatherings could also be used to shed light on Azerbaijan’s environmental violations and “ecocide” against the Armenian population, he added, citing the destruction of natural habitats in Artsakh.
Meanwhile, the Armenian National Assembly faces controversy over a proposal calling for the immediate release of Armenian prisoners of war (POWs) held in Azerbaijan. Despite support from opposition factions, the ruling Civil Contract Party did not participate in the vote, which aimed to raise awareness of the illegal detention of Armenian POWs in the context of COP29. The proposal called on the international community to demand the release of all Armenian detainees and address human rights abuses.
Ruben Rubinyan, vice president of the Armenian National Assembly, stated that the opposition is “completely indifferent to the fate of the captives” and aims to “turn the issue of the prisoners into political capital” with this proposal.
Kristine Vardanyan, an MP of the “Armenia” faction, criticized the ruling party for blocking the initiative, calling it both “predictable” and “absurd.” She criticized Rubinyan for making his accusation while “looking into the eyes of Gegham Manukyan, whose brother is currently imprisoned in Baku.”
“Will you condemn Aliyev?” she asked, raising Azerbaijan’s aggression over the past four years. “We hear claims that we are doing everything possible. Where is the evidence of that?”
As Azerbaijan hosts COP29, the event has ignited discussions about the country’s human rights record and treatment of ethnic Armenians. In an article for The Guardian, climate activist Greta Thunberg critiques Azerbaijan’s role as host of COP29, highlighting the country’s poor human rights record and reliance on fossil fuels. She argues that the climate crisis is intertwined with humanitarian issues, pointing to the ongoing suffering in Artsakh and across the world and the lack of genuine climate action from Azerbaijan.
“The ‘Cop of peace’ is one theme chosen for this year’s climate conference by the host, which wants to encourage states to observe a ‘Cop truce.’ It is gut-wrenching, to say the least, to talk of global peace after the terrible human rights violations committed by Azerbaijan’s Aliyev regime against ethnic Armenians living in the Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh region,” Thunberg wrote.
“You cannot claim to care about climate justice if you ignore the sufferings of oppressed and colonized people today,” she continued, emphasizing that true climate justice encompasses human rights for all. She calls for immediate sanctions against the Azerbaijani regime and the cessation of fossil fuel imports, urging diplomatic pressure to secure the release of political prisoners and ensure the right of safe return for displaced Armenians.
Thunberg, currently in Armenia, will participate in a panel discussion on the “Impact of Azerbaijan’s Aggression on Human Rights and Environmental Protection” at the American University of Armenia on Thursday morning. In addition, Thunberg is scheduled to join the “Stop Greenwashing Genocide!” protest, which will take place near the U.N. office in Armenia on Friday.
Hoory Minoyan
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None of this will help Armenia…All of these climate zealots with their one world global government could care less about Armenia…You cant even get the present Armenian government to recognize other Armenians from Artsahk…what a corrupt, dysfunctional, incompetent, government…until that is fixed…talking about planting trees or the arts or cooking or dancing and all the other distractions in these articles… It wont matter as Armenia slowly becomes a weak,corrupt,neutered territory that eventually is absorbed by its smarter, stronger, better led, better organized enemies…its embarrassing and humiliating to watch…
Know it all and arrogant Armenians are a bunch of incompentent people, shame on us.
Very well said Gregory B. I am with you. Armenians have a lot to learn from the Turks, I can say that the Turks are much smarter then the Armenians . You can even tell from their past history. For a nation like Turkey to have had an Empire for 700 years they must have done something right ,although they were very violant they still maintained an Empire.
Everything the Turks, with their roots in Central Asia, have today and learned over the centuries they have and learned from the Armenians and other non-Turkic and non-Muslim indigenous populations under their occupation. For five centuries these uncivilized nomads invaded and occupied Christian lands and subjugated their populations by the command of their Allah under the banner of Islam and Turkish fascism. These uncivilized nomads had no skills other than being experts in the art of killing people. If being cunning is synonymous with being smart then yes they are. They conned Armenians many times from using them to overthrow their red sultan in 1908 to mass killings in 1915 to backstabbing them in 2010 for cheap Caspian oil and lucrative investments to 2020 invasion on our enemy’s behalf. Their modern Latin Alphabet was invented by an Armenian linguist, Hagop Martayan, their famous architectures, palaces and even mosques were designed and built by Armenian architects, among them the Balyan family, and many more. Today they are in occupation of 90% of the Armenian homeland and feeling proud of their architectures. That is Turkish smartness for you. Backstabbing racist con artists!
@ richard: What did they do “right”? Enlighten us.
a mistake: not 700 years but <500.
Ended in 1918, fyi.
To hold such a conference in artificial gas station of Azerbaijan with over 90% of their economy reliant on the export of fossil fuel is like holding a security meeting in the home of a bank robber and thief who robbed the bank to improve the bank’s security system!
WASTE OF TIME. NOBODY GIVES A CRAP! MONEY AND POWER RULE. EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING ELSE–HUMAN RIGHTS, CLIMATE CRISIS, ETHNIC CLEANSING–CAN KEEP BARKING FOREVER. ARMENIA NEEDS TO STOP THE WHINING! STOP COMPLAINING! STOP BEING A DAMN VICTIM! INCREASE YOUR POPULATION, INVEST HEAVILY IN SCIENCE, RESEARCH, AND MILITARY, AND BE AN IRON FORTRESS ARMED TO THE TEETH. AGAIN, STOP WITH THE DAMN WHINING AND COMPLAINING!!!
Who cares what Abraham Gasparyan thinks and says. If Armenia had participated at the COP29 in Baku Gasparyan would have been critical. Now he is critical that Armenia did not dispatch lower ranked officials to Baku. Gasparyan does not understand that if Armenian officials had attended COP29 in Baku they would not have been able to raise political or human rights issues. Maybe Gasparyan deep down knows that as well but it doesn’t stop him from attacking Armenian authorities. One wonders whose interests does Gasparyan serve. As for the Armenian opposition the less said about that rabble mob the better.
As host nation Azerbaijan faces scrutiny over it’s own extensive hydrocarbon industries including the hypocrisy of being a forum for oil and gas exploitation deals not in the official spirit of these events, and to a lesser extent human rights of its personal ity cult family firm governance and even it’s actions over Arktash and compelling the Armenian population to abandon their homeland. These events for host countries are a liability if anything as they lead to a public scrutiny that otherwise wouldn’t occur.
Turks are ruthless.
Armenians must be equally ruthless or the entire nation will disappear.
A ruthless policy of tit for tat is the only policy that the Turks understand.
These “ one world “ forums have proven to be inept because the compromises required to even people in a room results in such compromises to render them useless. The UN is a political forum that compromises humanitarian issues consistently. Artsakh, Palestine, Kurds etc
Rewarding Azerbaijan makes a mockery of climate change not simply for its economic dependence on fossil fuels , but for enabling their bile propaganda show. In the meantime , the
climate situations continues unabated.