Armenia ready to work for peace deal with Azerbaijan ahead meeting in Brussels

The Prime Minister of Armenia has voiced readiness to work for a peace deal with its neighbour Azerbaijan ahead of a meeting in the European Union capital Brussels with the Azerbaijani president.

On Thursday, following a Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said, “I once again express the readiness of the Republic of Armenia to sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan.”

He further said, “Armenia is ready to launch peace talks immediately. I hope to discuss and agree at that meeting with the president of Azerbaijan (Ilham Aliyev) all issues relating to the launch of peace talks.”

The leaders of the two Caucasus nations are set to meet next Wednesday in Brussels with Charles Michel, head of the European Commission.

Relations between the former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.

Karabakh, which is also known as Upper Karabakh, is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.

New clashes have taken place on September 27, 2020, and during the six-week war, Azerbaijan retook several cities and 300 settlements and villages.

The conflict finished in November 2020 in a Russia-brokered deal that saw Armenia code chunks of the territory it had occupied for decades.

In January 2021, the leaders of the three(3) nations decided to develop economic ties as well as infrastructure for the benefit of the entire Caucasus region.