YEREVAN, March 20, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Thursday called on Azerbaijan to begin consultations on signing a peace treaty, a text of which the arch-foe Caucasus neighbours agreed upon last week.

Baku and Yerevan fought two wars for control of Azerbaijan's Armenian-populated region of Karabakh, at the end of the Soviet Union and again in 2020, before Azerbaijan seized the entire area in a 24-hour offensive in September 2023.

Both countries have repeatedly said a comprehensive peace deal to end their long-standing conflict is within reach, but previous talks had failed to reach consensus on a draft agreement.

On Friday, the two countries said they had wrapped up talks on resolving the conflict, with both sides agreeing on the text of a possible treaty.

"The draft of Armenia-Azerbaijan peace agreement has been agreed upon and awaits signing," Pashinyan said Thursday in an English post on Telegram.

"I propose Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to begin joint consultations on the signing of the agreed draft peace agreement."

The deal to normalise ties would be a major breakthrough in a region where Russia, the European Union, the United States and Turkey all jostle for influence.

Baku has made clear its expectations that Armenia remove from its constitution a reference to its 1991 declaration of independence, which asserts territorial claims over Karabakh.

Any constitutional amendment would require a national referendum that could further delay the treaty's finalisation.

Pashinyan has recognised Baku's sovereignty over Karabakh after three decades of Armenian separatist rule, a move seen as a crucial first step towards a normalisation of relations.

Armenia also last year returned to Azerbaijan four border villages it had seized decades earlier.

Nearly all ethnic Armenians -- more than 100,000 people -- fled Karabakh after its takeover by Baku.

Washington, Brussels and European leaders such as France's President Emmanuel Macron have welcomed the breakthrough. They have all tried to play a mediating role at various times in the conflict.