German overseas minister Annalena Baerbock aimed to make development on a peace treaty between the 2 countries, which has stalled because of mutual mistrust.
Germany aimed to advance discussions on a peace settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan by means of website hosting the overseas ministers of the 2 international locations in Berlin, on Wednesday.
At a secluded govt villa, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock welcomed Armenia’s Ararat Mirzoyan and Azerbaijan’s Jeyhun Bayramov for what used to be scheduled as two days of negotiations.
The newest talks adopted a gathering on Feb. 17 between German Chancellor OIaf Scholz, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. Scholz underlined Germany’s willingness to lend a hand conclude peace talks, in conjunction with that of European Council President Charles Michel.
“We believe that Armenia and Azerbaijan now have an opportunity to achieve an enduring peace after years of painful conflict,” Baerbock, who visited each international locations in November, mentioned forward of a three-way assembly.
“What we’re seeing now are courageous steps by both countries to put the past behind and to work toward a durable peace for their people.”
Armenia and Azerbaijan have a protracted historical past of land disputes. The newest conflict at their border resulted within the loss of life of no less than 4 Armenian squaddies in mid-February.
Azerbaijan waged a lightning army marketing campaign closing 12 months to reclaim the Karabakh area, which Armenian separatists had dominated for 3 a long time.
The area, which used to be recognized the world over as Nagorno-Karabakh, and massive swaths of surrounding territory got here beneath complete keep watch over of ethnic Armenian forces sponsored by means of Armenia on the finish of a separatist struggle in 1994.
Azerbaijan regained portions of Karabakh and lots of the surrounding territory in a six-week struggle in 2020 that ended with a Russian-brokered truce. In December 2022, Azerbaijan began blocking off the street linking the area with Armenia, inflicting meals and gasoline shortages.
It then introduced a blitz in September 2023 that routed the separatist forces in at some point and compelled them to put down hands. More than 100,000 ethnic Armenians fled the area, leaving it just about abandoned.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have pledged to paintings towards signing a peace treaty, however no visual development has been made, and tensions have endured to leap amid mutual mistrust.
“Direct dialog like today and tomorrow is the best way to make further progress,” Baerbock mentioned.
