Pashinyan pointed to progress in negotiations with the President of Azerbaijan

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan pointed to the progress in negotiations with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, which were mediated by European Council President Charles Michel in Brussels on May 14. He made such a statement at the fourth summit of the Council of Europe in Reykjavik.

“Three days ago, through the mediation of the President of the European Council, we took a step forward by emphasizing that Armenia recognizes 86,600 sq. km of the territory of Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan recognizes 29,800 sq. km of the territory of Armenia,” he said (cit. by Sputnik Armenia).

In turn, Baku also called the past meeting was useful and result-oriented on the normalization of relations between the two countries.

May 14 meeting participants discussed the situation on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the unblocking of the regional transport and economic infrastructure, the agreement on the settlement of relations between Baku and Yerevan, and humanitarian issues. Then they agreed to continue discussing these issues on June 1 in Moldova with the participation of the leaders of Germany and France on the sidelines of the summit of the European Political Community.

In early May, Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers Ararat Mirzoyan and Jeyhun Bayramov met in Arlington, USA. On May 4, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced that the parties achieved tangible progress towards a peace agreement. May 3 Aliyev informedthat by the end of this month the foreign ministers of the two countries will hold a new round of talks in Russia.

The situation around Nagorno-Karabakh escalated in September 2020, when hostilities began in the region between the military of Armenia and Azerbaijan. As a result, a tripartite statement was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Hostilities have completely ceased in the conflict zone, and Russian peacekeepers have also been deployed along the line of contact and in the Lachin corridor. In 2022, the situation escalated again, and the State Border Service of Azerbaijan installed a checkpoint in the Lachin corridor, on the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia.