Macron: Armenia and Azerbaijan to start peace negotiations “without delay”

THE Emmanuel Macron welcoming the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian at the Elysee, he invited her as well Armeniaas well as the Azerbaijan to sit “without delay” at the negotiating table for peace.

“Resorting to military force cannot be the solution for Armenia or Azerbaijan, and dialogue must be restored immediately,” he stressed. “All outstanding issues, and these are many, we know, must be dealt with exclusively through negotiation,” he insisted.

Bloody clashes, which left nearly 300 dead, erupted on September 13 on the border between the two countries, which blame each other for the fighting, the heaviest since the 2020 war for control of the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. .

“The situation remains extremely critical on the ground,” Macron said. “The territory of Armenia was targeted, civilian infrastructure was destroyed,” he said, calling the situation “unacceptable.”

“The fact that the borders are not demarcated does not justify the promotion on the territory of the other country,” he continued, addressing Baku. “Peace cannot be built while the threat of resorting to military force looms,” he added, clarifying that “in the next few hours” he would hold talks with Azeri president Ilham Aliyev.

France will see how it can “contribute, alongside the European Union and other involved powers to the “progress for a sustainable peace”, especially in the “demarcation of the borders” between the two countries, Macron added.