Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
Armenia signs peace agreement with Azerbaijan in November
Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announces peace with Azerbaijan
© Mehrabyan / PAN Photo / AP / DPA
Armenia’s head of state Nikol Pashinyan announces peace with his conflict partner Azerbaijan. An agreement is expected to be signed in November.
Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan hopes for a peace agreement with arch-enemy Azerbaijan in the coming months. “We are currently working with Azerbaijan on a draft peace agreement and normalization of relations,” Pashinyan said on Thursday at an economic forum in the Georgian capital Tbilisi. “I hope that this process will be successfully completed in the coming months.”
Earlier, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said a peace agreement with Armenia could be signed before the end of the year.
The Armenian head of government also said that he hopes to open the border between Armenia and Turkey to citizens from third countries and diplomats “in the near future.” Turkey closed its border with Armenia in the 1990s in solidarity with its ally Azerbaijan.
Armenia: Decades of hostility with Azerbaijan
Pashinyan’s comments came at a time when there are fears on the Armenian side that a major military offensive by Azerbaijan, with the help of Turkey, could be imminent against Armenia.
The Caucasus states Azerbaijan and Armenia have been enemies for decades. Since the collapse of the USSR, the former Soviet republics have fought over the predominantly Armenian-inhabited Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is part of Azerbaijan under international law. Last month, Azerbaijan retook the region in a major military offensive.
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Almost all of the region’s former 120,000 Armenian residents have now fled to Armenia. Nagorno-Karabakh declared itself independent after a referendum in 1991. This was not recognized internationally and was boycotted by the Azerbaijani minority.