Armenia, Azerbaijan gearing up for peace talks

Yerevan, April 7 (AFP/APP): Armenia and Azerbaijan are preparing for peace talks, officials in both countries said Thursday, after a flare-up last month in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region over which they fought a 2020 war.

Armenia Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met Wednesday in Brussels for rare talks mediated by the European Council President Charles Michel.

The meeting came after a flare-up in Karabakh on March 25 that saw Azerbaijan capture a strategic village in the area under the Russian peacekeepers’ responsibility, killing three separatist troops.

During the meeting, the two leaders “ordered foreign ministers to begin preparatory work for peace talks between the two countries,” the foreign ministry in Yerevan said in a statement.

“An agreement was reached during the meeting… to set up a bilateral commission on the issues of delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijan border, which will be in charge of ensuring security and stability along the frontier,” the ministry added.

Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry also said works were under way to begin peace talks, adding that future peace treaty would be based “on the basic principles proposed earlier by Azerbaijan.”

The European Union said Michel “noted both President Aliyev’s and Prime Minister Pashinyan’s stated desire to move rapidly towards a peace agreement between their countries.”

“To this end, it was agreed to instruct Ministers of Foreign Affairs to work on the preparation of a future peace treaty, which would address all necessary issues,” it added in a statement.