In the wake of the talks between the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Ararat Mirzoyan and Jeyhun Bayramov, hosted by U.S. Secretary Antony Blinken in the U.S. capital on November 7, Ned Price said that the U.S. remains “committed to promoting a peaceful future for the South Caucasus region.”
“What we are doing is trying to create a space and an opportunity for the two sides to come together, to identify their differences – of which there are many – and to attempt to bridge them,” Price said, highlighting as a “very positive sign” the fact that the two countries “could agree to not only issue a joint statement but to agree on the substance behind it.”
The statement released by Armenia’s Foreign Ministry said that the two ministers “shared views on the elements of a possible peace treaty and acknowledged that there is a range of issues that still need to be addressed.”
“Both sides reiterated the commitments undertaken by the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan in their meetings on October 6 in Prague and October 31 in Sochi. They agreed to expedite their negotiations and organize another meeting in the coming weeks. Both ministers expressed their appreciation to the U.S. side for hosting the peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” it added.
Last month during talks in the Czech capital organized by the European Union, the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and President Ilham Aliyev, in particular, confirmed their countries’ commitment to the UN Charter and the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1991, through which both sides recognize each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. They effectively reaffirmed this commitment in a joint statement issued as a result of talks hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin by referring to the Prague statement.
The Department of State spokesman said that it is “quite important” that during the Washington talks Armenia and Azerbaijan “were able to agree to continue meeting and engaging in direct dialogue and diplomacy in the weeks that follow.”
“But it is not for us to prescribe what this lasting comprehensive peace between the two countries might look like. We are not presenting them with a document that is ready to sign. We are doing everything we can to help enable the diplomacy that they themselves will need to undertake,” Price added.
The official described as “a real step” the fact that the two parties have continued to engage.
“That is actually a step that we hope in the coming weeks will continue to allow the parties to build on the momentum that they have been able to sustain since the outbreak of hostilities. There have, of course, been setbacks. But we believe that if they continue down the path of dialogue and diplomacy, they’ll be able to build on that momentum, they’ll be able to build confidence between them, trust between them, and we will do everything we can to support those processes so that they’re able to reach that comprehensive and lasting peace,” Price said.
Asked whether a peace agreement could be signed between Armenia and Azerbaijan by the end of the year, the Department of State spokesman said that Washington “will leave that to the parties.”
“This is a decision that they are going to have to make. I think as you read from their joint statement, the ministers used the opportunity yesterday (November 7) to share views on elements of a possible peace treaty, and they acknowledge that there are a range of issues that needed to be addressed. But they agreed to expedite their negotiations and organize another meeting in the coming weeks. We will do everything we can to see to it that they are able to make progress towards that comprehensive and lasting peace as quickly as possible, ultimately leading to a comprehensive and lasting peace,” Price concluded.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a conflict over the mainly Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh region for years. Some 30,000 people were killed in a war in the early 1990s that left ethnic Armenians in control of the former autonomous oblast inside Soviet Azerbaijan as well as several adjacent districts of Azerbaijan proper.
The two sides fought another war in 2020 that lasted six weeks and killed thousands of people on both sides before a Russia-brokered cease-fire, resulting in Armenians losing control over parts of the region and seven adjacent districts, was reached in November that year.
Under the cease-fire Russia deployed about 2,000 troops to the region to serve as peacekeepers.