Azerbaijan and Armenia said on Thursday that they had wrapped up talks aimed at resolving the Caucasus neighbours’ decades-long conflict, with both sides agreeing on the text of a possible treaty.
A deal to normalise ties would be a major breakthrough in a region where Russia, the European Union, the United States and Turkey all jostle for influence.
Baku and Yerevan fought two wars for control of Azerbaijan’s Armenian-populated region of Karabakh, at the end of the Soviet Union and again in 2020, before Azerbaijan seized the entire area in a 24-hour offensive in September 2023.
Nearly all ethnic Armenians — more than 100,000 people — fled Karabakh after its takeover by Baku.
Both countries have repeatedly said a comprehensive peace deal to end their long-standing animosity is within reach, but previous talks had failed to reach consensus on a draft agreement.
“The negotiation process on the text of the peace agreement with Armenia has been concluded,” Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov told reporters.
“Armenia has accepted Azerbaijan’s proposals on the two previously unresolved articles of the peace treaty,” he said.
Armenia’s foreign ministry later confirmed that in a statement, saying “negotiations on the draft agreement have been concluded” and “the Peace Agreement is ready for signing”.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan hailed an “important event”, saying Yerevan was “ready to begin discussions on the place and time for signing the peace agreement”.
“We believe this text is a compromise, as a peace agreement should be,” he told reporters.
But in a hint at enduring tensions, Armenia criticised Azerbaijan for making a statement unilaterally rather than issuing a joint one.
