Leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan meet in Munich after escalation on border
Nikol Pashinyan, Prime Minister of Armenia (photo: Getty Images)
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met in Munich. This follows the recent escalation of the conflict on the border between the two countries.
The meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders was mediated by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
According to Pashinyan, an important issue was on the table - the parties' confirmation of the agreements reached during the quadripartite meeting in Prague and during the meeting in Brussels.
"It was agreed that the foreign ministers will meet in the near future, after which a meeting on border demarcation will also take place. In general, if the agreements are adhered to, the implementation of the agreements will help reduce border tensions, and I say again, if the agreements are adhered to. For our part, of course, we are determined to adhere to these agreements," he said after the meeting.
Pashinyan also added that the meeting of the foreign ministers should be devoted to further discussion and agreement on the text of the peace treaty.
"Of course, a number of articles of the peace agreement have been agreed upon, but a number of fundamental articles have not yet been agreed upon, and work in this direction must be carried out, and we have agreed to carry out this work," the Armenian prime minister explained.
At the same time, Azerbaijani President Aliyev called the meeting constructive and noted that agreements had already been reached on normalizing relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, demarcating the borders, and negotiating a peace treaty.
Conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan
In September 2023, Azerbaijan announced the launch of "anti-terrorist measures" in Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed region that belongs to Azerbaijan under international treaties but was de facto seized by Armenia. The Azerbaijani army then launched an operation in the region.
Armenia refused to deploy its army to the region, and Pashinyan recognized that Nagorno-Karabakh was part of Azerbaijan. However, a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan has not yet been concluded.
Already in January 2024, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that the countries had created the basic conditions for signing a peace treaty.
However, already on February 13, Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other of carrying out strikes. Pashinyan then accused Aliyev of preparing a full-scale war with Armenia.
