Before silent Putin
Armenia and Azerbaijan approach each other
05/25/2023, 8:25 p.m
The heads of government of the two countries are meeting in Moscow to reach an agreement on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. After recently announced concessions from the Armenian side, this seems to be working. There is also a verbal exchange of blows in Russian.
After decades of fighting over the conflict region of Nagorno-Karabakh in the South Caucasus, the warring ex-Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan want to settle their dispute. In Moscow, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan reiterated his announcement this week that he would recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan and open all transport links. “I think there is a possibility of a peace deal – especially given that Armenia has officially recognized Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan,” Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev replied.
As usual, the conversation took place at a large table.
(Photo: via REUTERS)
Aliyev and Pashinyan were to meet in the evening, mediated by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, in order to possibly finalize the peace agreement. It was initially unclear whether this would succeed. The leadership of the internationally unrecognized region of Nagorno-Karabakh is not at the table. After the last war in 2020, Putin brokered a ceasefire and sent 2,000 Russian soldiers to the region to enforce the agreement. Nevertheless, there were always bloody battles. Large parts of the Armenian population are also against abandoning the conflict region.
“I would like to confirm that Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed to mutual recognition of each other’s territorial integrity,” Pashinyan said. “And based on that, we can say that we’re pretty well on our way to sorting out our relationship.” Aliyev confirmed that there is a chance of normalization of the relationship. Putin had said that the agreement was possible because it was in the interest of both sides’ economic development.
Diplomacy in Russian
Loud the Reuters news agency the two leaders argued heatedly in Russian for several minutes before Putin – who is making new efforts to negotiate a deal – finally ended the call. Videos shared on Twitter also show the two heads of government discussing while a silent Putin follows whoever is speaking, occasionally looking down.
Azerbaijan and Armenia have been at odds over Nagorno-Karabakh for decades. In the 1990s, the region, inhabited mostly by Armenians, was able to break away from Azerbaijan in a bloody civil war. In 2020, Azerbaijan, which had been heavily armed for years thanks to income from oil and gas sales, regained control of a large part of the area after new fighting. Despite the ceasefire, fighting broke out again and again, which also spread to other border areas of Armenia and Azerbaijan.