Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev called on Friday, April 22 for negotiations to take place soon on a peace treaty with Armenia, but said Yerevan would need to renounce any territorial claim against his country, the Interfax news agency reported.

Aliyev said Armenia and Azerbaijan could reach an agreement quickly if Yerevan accepted the principles his country had set forward, Reuters reports.

“Armenia must officially recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, as well as the fact that it does not have any territorial claims against Azerbaijan, and will not have any in the future either,” he was quoted as saying.

Otherwise, “we will not recognize the territorial integrity of Armenia, we will announce it officially,” he said.

Speaking to Armenia’s parliament after Aliyev’s comments, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said he would not sign any peace deal with Azerbaijan without consulting ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Pashinyan said: “I rule out that I would come close to signing a document that would not have undergone extensive public discussion, including with all the layers of society in Nagorno-Karabakh.”

“This is a cast-iron guarantee that the fate of Nagorno-Karabakh cannot be decided behind the backs of the people.”

The despatch of almost 2,000 peacekeepers reaffirmed Moscow’s role as policeman and chief power broker in a volatile part of the former Soviet Union where Turkey also wields increasing influence thanks to its close alliance with Azerbaijan.