U.S. says Armenia and Azerbaijan have made ‘further progress’ towards a peace deal

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Armenia and Azerbaijan have made “further progress” towards a peace settlement in three days of U.S.-hosted talks between the 2 former Soviet republics which have repeatedly clashed over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Wrapping up discussions between Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov on Thursday, Blinken stated the 2 sides had proven a willingness to barter significantly with the purpose of reaching a deal. But, he careworn that “hard work” stays to be accomplished.

“I appreciate further progress toward this shared objective of an agreement to include agreement on some additional articles as well as a deepening understanding of the positions on outstanding issues, as well as the recognition that there remains hard work to be done to try to reach a final agreement,” Blinken stated on the finish of the closed-door talks on the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute in northern Virginia.

“We look forward to continuing this process in the weeks ahead to take advantage of the momentum that we’ve helped achieve through these meetings,” he stated. “I very much appreciate the spirit of candor, openness, directness that everyone has exhibited. That is the way ultimately to reach understanding and finally to reach agreement.”

Neither Mirzoyan nor Bayramov spoke on the occasion. The newest talks had been the second spherical of negotiations the U.S. has hosted between the 2 sides. Similar talks have been hosted by the European Union and Russia.

Earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that solely “strictly technical” points stay in resolving one of many most important disputes between Armenia and Azerbaijan and that the 2 sides had agreed to acknowledge one another’s territorial integrity. Putin spoke on Sunday in Moscow after assembly with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to debate a dispute over a winding street known as the Lachin Corridor, which is the one licensed connection between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

Aliyev and Pashinyan, participating in a broader regional summit that Putin hosted, had lashed out at one another for his or her positions relating to the hall. But Putin stated that on the “principal issues, there is an agreement,” and later stated all that remained had been “surmountable obstacles,” calling them variations in terminology and “strictly technical.” He stated representatives of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan would meet in per week to attempt to resolve the variations.

Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous area smaller than the U.S. state of Delaware, in 2020 that killed greater than 6,000 individuals. The conflict led to a Russia-brokered armistice below which Armenia relinquished territories surrounding the area. Nagorno-Karabakh lies inside Azerbaijan, however ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia had managed the area and surrounding territories since 1994.