AKIPRESS.COM – Kazakhstan and Armenia are not in talks regarding withdrawal from the Collective Security Treaty Organization, Kazakh Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Aibek Smadiyarov said in response to media reports.

“The information is spread allegedly Kazakhstan and Armenia are holding talks. This is untrue. Almost several days ago the Foreign Ministers of CSTO member states held a meeting. Further ways of development of the Organizations, cooperation in the framework of the Organization were discussed there. We are working in this direction,” Smadiyarov told a briefing.

He said Armenia had not asked military assistance from Kazakhstan in regulation of the armed conflict in Karabakh.

Source: Akipress

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Arch foes Armenia and Azerbaijan are advancing toward normalizing ties following mutual recognition of territorial integrity, the two countries’ leaders said Thursday as they held talks in Moscow.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met separately with Russian President Vladimir Putin before the three held joint negotiations late on Thursday.

The talks were held following recent deadly border clashes between the two Caucasus neighbors, which have been locked in a decades-long conflict for control of Azerbaijan’s predominantly Armenian-populated region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

“There is a possibility of coming to a peace agreement, considering that Armenia has formally recognized Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan,” Aliyev said ahead of talks.

“Azerbaijan has no territorial claims to Armenia,” he added.

Pashinyan said the two countries were “making good progress in normalizing relationships, based on mutual recognition of territorial integrity.”

He said Yerevan was ready “to unblock all the transport links in the region that pass through Armenian territory.”

Putin said that “despite all the difficulties and problems that still remain, the situation is developing toward the settlement” of the Karabakh conflict.

He said the three countries’ deputy prime ministers will meet in a week’s time in Moscow “to resolve the remaining issues” regarding the reopening of transport links between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Western engagement

The Caucasus neighbors have been seeking to negotiate a peace agreement with the help of the European Union and United States.

On May 14, they agreed at a meeting hosted in Brussels by the European Council President Charles Michel on mutual recognition of territorial integrity.

But the West’s diplomatic engagement in the Caucasus has irked Moscow, the traditional power broker in the region.

Armenia and Azerbaijan fought two wars — in 2020 and in the 1990s — for control of Nagorno-Karabakh.

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

Armenia, which has relied on Russia for military and economic support since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, has accused Moscow of failing to fulfil its peacekeeping role in Karabakh.

Yerevan’s concerns have grown after Azerbaijani activists blocked in December Karabakh’s only land link to Armenia. In April, Azerbaijan set up a checkpoint manned by border guards along the route.

Last year, Yerevan also accused Azerbaijan of occupying a pocket of its land, in what it has said amounted to military aggression and demanded military help from Russia, which has never materialized.

With Russia bogged down in Ukraine and unwilling to strain ties with Azerbaijan’s key ally Turkey, the United States and European Union have sought to repair ties between the Caucasus rivals.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, ethnic Armenian separatists in Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan. The ensuing conflict claimed some 30,000 lives.

Source: The Moscow Times

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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said that despite difficulties, he felt Azerbaijan and Armenia were moving towards a settlement to their decades-old conflict over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Putin made his remarks in a televised Kremlin meeting with leaders of both nations. Russia has traditionally been the main power broker between the two countries on the southwest edge of the former Soviet Union which have fought two major wars in the last three decades.

“In my opinion, on the whole, despite difficulties and problems, and there are enough of them, the situation is nonetheless moving towards a settlement,” he said.

Next week, officials from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia would meet in a bid to ensure that “all unresolved issues will be cleared away”, he added.

Earlier, in a clear sign of the tensions between the two nations, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev had argued in Russian for several minutes in Putin’s presence.

Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian-populated enclave inside Azerbaijan, has been a source of conflict since the years leading up to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

In 2020, Azerbaijan seized control of areas that had been controlled by ethnic Armenians in and around the mountain enclave, and since then it has periodically restricted access to the only access road linking Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia.

Baku last month erected a checkpoint along the road on the grounds Armenia was using the route to send weapons to Nagorno-Karabakh, something Yerevan denies.

Putin said the three sides had discussed communications and transport in detail.

“There are still unresolved questions, but in my opinion, and we discussed this with our Azeri and our Armenian colleagues, they are of a purely technical nature,” he said.

Outstanding issues between the two sides include the rights and security of some 120,000 ethnic Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh, which is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan.

Despite their testy exchange, both Pashinyan and Aliyev said there had been progress lately towards a settlement based on mutual recognition of each other’s territorial integrity.

Distracted by the war in Ukraine, Russia faces a challenge to maintain its role as broker as the United States and European Union have made their own attempts to bring the sides together.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu was quoted by the RIA news agency earlier as saying the West was trying to interfere in the conflict and discredit Russian peacekeeping policy.

Source: Reuters

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As they meet in Moscow on Thursday, Azerbaijan and Armenia are eager to settle the decadeslong dispute over the Karabakh region.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian reiterated his announcement this week that his country would recognize Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan and would open all transport links.

“I think there is a possibility of a peace agreement – especially because Armenia has officially recognized Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan,” Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in response.

Aliyev and Pashinian were to meet in the evening, mediated by Russian President Vladimir Putin, to hammer out the peace agreement possibly. However, it was initially unclear whether this would succeed.

“I want to confirm that Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed to mutual recognition of each other’s territorial integrity,” Pashinian said. “And on this basis, we can say that we are quite well on settling our relations.”

Aliyev confirmed that there was a chance of normalizing the relationship. Putin had said the settlement was possible because it was in the interest of the economic development of both sides.

Aliyev on Thursday denied that Baku has any territorial claims against Yerevan.

“I want to say that we have no such (territorial) claims (on Armenia) … As for the word ‘corridor,’ which I used, I used (it) in the same way about the North-South corridor, in the same way, this word is used about the East-West corridor, The word ‘corridor’ is in no way an encroachment on someone’s territory. It is an international term,” Aliyev said.

Pashinian claimed following opening remarks at the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council that Aliyev’s statements on Baku’s initiation of the creation of the Zangezur corridor were “an expression” used to put forward territorial claims against Armenia.

The Zangezur region was part of Azerbaijan, though the Soviets gave it to Armenia in the 1920s, leaving Azerbaijan deprived of its direct overland route to Nakhchivan.

Following a 44-day conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia in September 2020, Baku liberated numerous cities, villages and settlements in Karabakh from Armenian occupation, ending in a Moscow-brokered truce.

Since then, Azerbaijan has focused on planned connections, including motorways and a 43-kilometer (26.7-mile) railway through the corridor.

Aliyev also denied Pashinian’s claims that Azerbaijan is blocking the flow of transport through the Lachin road, the only route connecting Armenia to the Karabakh region, saying the road is open and that it is not right to “use this meeting for baseless accusations.”

“A border checkpoint has been established on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border. There is a checkpoint of Russian forces 20 meters away from this border checkpoint. Azerbaijani citizens of Armenian origin living in Karabakh can go to Armenia from here without any hindrance,” Aliyev said.

Last month, Azerbaijan announced that it established a border checkpoint at the starting point of the Lachin-Khankendi road, citing the use of the road by Armenia to transport military arms and equipment to the region illegally.

Source: Daily Sabah

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