“The interlocutors reviewed the situation in the region, ongoing negotiations on the peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan, necessary steps to ensure the rights and security of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, including the need for a Baku-Stepanakert dialogue with international involvement,” the Armenian government’s press office said in a statement on the call.
“Prime Minister Pashinian referred to the deepening humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh resulting from Azerbaijan's illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor and steps necessary for overcoming it,” it added without elaborating.
Blinken and the U.S. State Department did not immediately issue statements on the conversation. It took place five days after U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with Armen Grigorian, the secretary of Armenia’s Security Council, in Washington. Sullivan did not comment on that meeting.
Both Blinken and Sullivan held late last month trilateral meetings with the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers during their fresh round of U.S.-mediated peace talks focusing on the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty. Blinken said on June 29 that despite “further progress” made by the two ministers “there remains hard work to be done to try to reach a final agreement.”
Speaking in Baku on Tuesday, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stressed the importance of Armenia’s recognition of Azerbaijani sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh which was declared by Pashinian in May.
“Now, however, the time has come to put those words to paper,” Aliyev said, referring to the peace deal currently discussed by Baku and Yerevan.