Shutterstock english6/12/2023 And in an interview with Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty’s Armenian Service on his visit last week to Prague, however, Pashinyan described any such progress as minimal. “I hope Washington negotiations will produce - if not results, but at least signs of progress,” he said. That had been hinted at during the talks by Aliyev during a conference held in Shusha, the hilltop citadel that returned to Azerbaijani jurisdiction towards the end of the 2020 war. “The pace of negotiations and the foundation that our colleagues have built shows that we really are within reach of an agreement the last mile of any marathon is always the hardest.”īlinken proposed that the two ministers return to Baku and Yerevan to “share with the governments that, with additional goodwill flexibility, and compromise, an agreement is within reach.” And in identical but separate statements from the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministries, that apparent progress was also acknowledged although both admitted that there was still disagreement on key issues, reminding some of previous failed attempts to resolve the conflict. diplomat also acknowledged that the Armenian and Azerbaijan delegations had "discussed some very tough issues over the last few days,” but sounded a note of caution in a statement issued afterwards. “Achieving would not only be historic but profoundly in the interests of the people of Azerbaijan and Armenia,” he said. “They’ve made tangible progress on a peace agreement,” Blinken said in a live broadcast at the very end. Secretary of State also took part in the opening session and joined the delegations for the last. It was, however, announced that Blinken had hosted the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign minister for a welcome dinner on the eve of the talks. What is known, however, is that both Bayramov and Mirzoyan also met together with U.S. When asked at press conferences, U.S State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel avoided questions due to the secrecy of the talks. Schultz National Foreign Affairs Training Centre in Arlington, Virginia, no details of the talks held from 1-4 May were disclosed. Colonna had already visited Baku the same week. Speaking in Yerevan on 28 April, French foreign minister Catherine Colonna had also said that there was the possibility Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev could meet on the sidelines of the upcoming second European Political Community (EPC) event in Chisinau, Moldova, on 1 June. There was also speculation that a ‘roadmap’ towards the normalisation of relations could be signed, though none was announced or signed. Turan also said its sources had informed them that the meeting could last ‘several days,’ an unprecedented development since the 2020 war.Īn announcement posted on the website of the Armenian National Assembly confirmed that the same day – parliamentary vice-president Ruben Rubinyan would join Mirzoyan as part of the delegation in the U.S. Nonetheless, a day before the ministers and their delegations headed off to Washington D.C., the Azerbaijani Turan News Agency and Armenian Hraparak both published pieces saying that the meeting would take place. Though some had speculated that such a meeting was being planned, what appeared to be a general stagnation in the normalisation process between the two countries meant that few expected it. On, the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers, Ararat Mirzoyan and Jeyhun Bayramov were hosted in the United States by U.S.
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