Armenia and Azerbaijan pledged on Thursday to take “concrete steps” to ease tensions between them, an announcement welcomed by Brussels and Washingtonfollowing three decades of conflict over control of Nagorno-Karabakhwhich Baku recaptured in September.
In recent weeks negotiations between the two countries were not progressing, despite their stated goal of signing a peace agreement.
But yesterday, Thursday, after talks between the Cabinet of the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and that of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Baku and Yerevan issued a joint statement.
Azerbaijan and Armenia pledged to take “concrete measures aimed at strengthening confidence,” according to the text, and reiterated “their intention to normalize relations and sign a peace agreement.”
As a sign of goodwill, Armenia announced that it is withdrawing its candidacy for the organization of the UN Climate Conference (COP29) and that it is supporting that of Azerbaijan.
The two countries also agreed to release 32 Armenian prisoners of war in exchange for two Azeri soldiers.
“Big progress”
Armenia and Azerbaijan “will continue to discuss confidence-building measures, which will be taken in the near future, and ask for the support of the international community,” their joint statement said.
In X, the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, yesterday welcomed this joint announcement and the release of the prisoners, describing them as “great progress” and “an unprecedented opening to political dialogue”.
“Today’s advances are a key milestone. I now encourage the leaders to finalize a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan as soon as possible,” Michel added.
The US also welcomed the prisoner exchange, “which is an important confidence-building measure as the two sides work to finalize a peace agreement and normalize their relations.”
Besides, the Armenian diplomacy pointed out yesterday that it responded “positively” to the proposal of the American Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to organize a meeting with Azero and his Armenian counterpart in Washington.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been in conflict for decades over Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave located in Azerbaijan but mostly inhabited by Armenians. In September, Baku recaptured the enclave after a blitzkrieg operation. Almost the entire Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh, more than 100,000 people out of a total of 120,000, fled to Armenia.
Source: News Beast
With 6 years of experience, I bring to the table captivating and informative writing in the world news category. My expertise covers a range of industries, including tourism, technology, forex and stocks. From brief social media posts to in-depth articles, I am dedicated to creating compelling content for various platforms.
