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The Armenian parliament’s pro-government majority and the opposition failed to agree on a joint statement in response to the November 8 document passed by the Azerbaijani parliament.

The National Assembly started debates on the statement drafted by the opposition Hayastan faction on Friday morning.

Addressing lawmakers, MP Eduard Aghajanyan of the ruling Civil Contract party, who heads the National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, claimed the resolution “posed some risks” and ran against the peace agenda promoted by the authorities.

“Although there were many points in the statement which were agreed upon, there were also wordings on which the positions of the parties were principled and it was not possible to come to an agreement around them," he said.

The deputy stated some parts in the draft statement were in line with the pre-war foreign policies “which led to the current situation”, calling them unacceptable.

"Given the latest geopolitical developments, as well as the destructive policies adopted by the Azerbaijani authorities, it is impossible to rule out almost anything, including possible military provocations," he noted, crediting the unanimous condemnation of Azerbaijan’s provocations by the international community to Armenia’s peace agenda.

“According to the estimates of the Civil Contract faction, the terminology proposed by the Hayastan faction poses more risks rather than promotes Armenia’s peace agenda, thus the faction cannot endorse a statement creating such risks,” Aghajanyan said.