Yerevan, Baku making progress toward normalizing relations: Pashinyan

• 

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced on Thursday that Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed to recognize each other’s territorial integrity and are making progress toward normalizing relations.

"Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed on mutual recognition of each other's territorial integrity and on this basis we are making good progress towards the normalization of our relations," Pashinyan said during a speech at a meeting of the expanded Supreme Eurasian Economic Council.

The Prime Minister affirmed that Armenia is "ready" to unblock transport and economic communication in the region.

Pashinyan also touched on the rights and security of people in Nagorno-Karabakh.

"I hope that a normal, constructive dialogue between Baku and Stepanakert will begin in a short time," he said.

Baku and Yerevan fought two wars -- in 2020 and in the 1990s -- for control of the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Six weeks of hostilities in autumn 2020 ended with a Russian-brokered ceasefire that saw Armenia cede swathes of territory it had controlled for decades.

A couple of weeks ago, an Azerbaijani serviceman was killed and four Armenian troops were injured in border clashes that erupted between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces.

Baku, Yerevan could reach peace agreement: Aliyev

On his part, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said Baku and Yerevan could reach a peace agreement, taking into account the fact that Armenia has recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan.

"There is a possibility of reaching a peace agreement between Baku and Yerevan, especially considering that Armenia has officially recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan," Aliyev said at the meeting.

The Azerbaijani President said his country "has no territorial claims against Armenia."

"You have to try very hard and have a wild imagination in order to see territorial claims in my words," he added.

Putin Hopes to Discuss All Issues With Pashinyan, Aliyev at Trilateral Meeting

In the same context, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he hopes to discuss all outstanding issues with leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan at the trilateral meeting in Moscow.

"Today, at a trilateral meeting, I think we could discuss all this, I hope that we will be able to agree on what is clearly in the sphere of economic development interests for both Azerbaijan and Armenia, and for the entire region," Putin indicated at a meeting of the expanded Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, adding that hopefully Armenia and Azerbaijan will be able to come to a consensus.

The Russian President addressed the dispute between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev on terminology by saying that the important fact is that the sides agree on recognizing each other’s territorial integrity.

Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also confirmed that Putin will hold two bilateral meetings with Aliyev and Pashinyan on Thursday.

"Putin will have two bilateral meetings with Azerbaijani president Aliyev and Armenian prime minister Pashinyan. After that, we expect a trilateral meeting between Putin, Aliyev and Pashinyan," Peskov told reporters.

This comes more than a week after Aliyev and Pashinyan met in Brussels and decided to restart border delimitation talks and resolve the problem via discussions.

Their next meeting will be in July in Brussels. In June, Aliyev and Pashinyan will hold five-way discussions in Chisinau alongside Michel, Emmanuel Macron of France, and Olaf Scholz of Germany.

In early May, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that a peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan is "within reach" after concluding four days of dialogue in Washington with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov.