Day: May 11, 2024

It would be better if you had a meeting with Gubad Ibadoghlu rather than Tahir Gözal. https://t.co/M8l78qAbvx

— Emin Bred (@emin_bred) May 11, 2024

Events in the South #Caucasus do not happen in a vacuum, or without mutual interaction. The rapid and rabid anti-West turn in #Georgia, #Azerbaijan‘s alignment to #Russia, and #Armenia‘s strategic attenuation are all interrelated. 1/

— Michael Hikari Cecire 🇺🇦 (@mhikaric) May 11, 2024

A two-day round of talks between the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan ended on Saturday in Almaty Kazakhstan, with Yerevan signaling that differences continued to remain in an eventual peace agreement between the two countries.

Foreign Minster Ararat Mirzoyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Jeyhun Bayramov, kicked off the latest round of talks, hosted by Kazakhstan’s foreign minister Murat Nurtleu, on Friday and on Saturday, the Armenian foreign ministry announced that the sides have agreed to continue talks on the “difference” that remain.

“The Ministers welcomed the progress on delimitation and agreements reached in this regard. The Ministers and their delegations continued discussions on the provisions of the draft bilateral Agreement on the Establishment of Peace and Interstate Relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The parties agreed to continue negotiations on the open issues where differences still exist,” the Armenian foreign ministry said in a statement, without specifying the said “differences.”

The border delimitation process began last month with Yerevan ceding four villages in the Tavush Province, causing a wide-spread opposition protest and the emergence of the “Tavush for the Homeland” movement that has seen tens of thousands of protesters calling for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s resignation.

Presiden Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan demanded that Armenia change its constitution and remove references to Artsakh. In his public statements, Pashinyan has pushed for such a change, claiming that provisions such as the the reunification of Artsakh with Armenia will pose a threat to regional peace.

Ahead of the meeting on Friday, Mirzoyan insisted that both sides had publicly agreed to advance the border delimitation process based on the 1991 Alma Ata declaration, which set the borders of the former Soviet Republics. While Yerevan has advanced this agenda, Baku has remained reticent to agree to publicly acknowledge that the process would proceed based on that document.

Soon after the handover of the four villages in Tavush, Aliyev demanded four more villages, which it said were being “occupied” by Armenia in the Gegharkunik, Syunik and Vayots Dzor provinces. Baku also continues to insist on the opening of a so-called land “corridor” through Armenia that would give it access to Nakhichevan and, therefore, Turkey.

Mirzoyan also insisted on Friday that Yerevan remained committed to the advancing the peace process.