Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan to adhere to international human rights obligations and commitments during a telephone conversation on Sunday.
Blinken also called on Aliyev to “release those unjustly detained in Azerbaijan.”
The secretary of state spoke to Aliyev and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyn to voice support for the recent agreement between Yerevan and Baku on border delimitation. The agreement reached earlier this month saw Armenia ceding four villages in the Tavush Province to Azerbaijan, without receiving guarantees from Baku on a similar handover of Armenian territory currently under Azerbaijani control.
“The Secretary commended President Aliyev for last week’s announcement that Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to use the 1991 Alma Ata declaration as the basis for border delimitation and emphasized its importance to the two sides concluding a durable and dignified peace,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement on Sunday.
The Secretary urged President Aliyev to keep up the momentum with his Armenian counterpart, reiterating U.S. willingness to support those efforts. Secretary Blinken underscored our desire for a strong U.S.-Azerbaijan bilateral relationship, noting our efforts to cooperate on mutual energy, climate, and connectivity goals, and to ensure the success of COP 29 in Baku,” Miller added.
During his call with Pashinyan Blinked reaffirmed U.S. support for “progress between Armenia and Azerbaijan on a durable and dignified peace agreement.”
“Secretary Blinken reiterated that the United States welcomes Armenia and Azerbaijan’s agreement to use the Alma Ata Declaration as a basis for border delimitation,” Miller said in a similar statement issued following Blinken’s phone conversation with Pashinyan on Sunday.
“Secretary Blinken noted ongoing U.S. efforts to support Armenia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and for Prime Minister Pashinyan’s vision for a prosperous, democratic, and independent future for Armenia,” Miller added in his statement.