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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
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.”<\/p>\n
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.”<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 […]<\/p>\n
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