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France, Kazakhstan Back Armenian-Azerbaijani Normalization in Strategic Partnership Statement


President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron during his state visit to Paris. November 5, 2024.
President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron during his state visit to Paris. November 5, 2024.

France and Kazakhstan expressed their full support for the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan in a joint statement on the strengthening of their strategic partnership issued by the leaders of the two countries on Tuesday.

The statement came after a two-day state visit to France by President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, which concluded on November 5.

The statement by French President Emmanuel Macron and Tokayev reaffirmed the 2008 Treaty of Strategic Partnership between the two countries and highlighted a range of bilateral and multilateral issues, including global and regional peace, security, and stability.

The leaders addressed several international concerns, including the ongoing situations in Ukraine, Afghanistan, and the Middle East. They also pointed to the importance of resolving tensions in the South Caucasus, specifically between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

In their statement, Macron and Tokayev called for the signing of a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan that would pave the way for “a just and lasting peace” in the region, respecting the territorial integrity of both countries. They emphasized that such an agreement should be based on the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1991, in which the former Soviet republics pledged to recognize each other’s borders as they were during the Soviet era.

The two leaders also underscored the strategic significance of stability in the South Caucasus for the development of the Trans-Caspian corridor, a key route for energy and trade linking Central Asia to Europe.

Also on Tuesday, Armenia’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that it had received a response from Baku to its latest proposals regarding a draft peace treaty.

In a statement to the Armenian parliament last week, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan indicated that Yerevan and Baku were still negotiating “one or two wordings” of the treaty but refrained from offering further details.

Armenia and Azerbaijan engaged in fence-mending talks following a deadly war in 2020 over Nagorno-Karabakh, during which Baku regained control of much of the breakaway region. Azerbaijan completed its takeover of the region in 2023 when more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians fled hostilities and resettled in Armenia.

The United States and other Western partners of Armenia and Azerbaijan have repeatedly expressed their support for a peace treaty between the two South Caucasus nations, encouraging them to finalize it already this year.

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