Current:Home > FinanceAzerbaijan’s leader says his country is ready to hold peace treaty talks with Armenia -Ascend Wealth Education
Azerbaijan’s leader says his country is ready to hold peace treaty talks with Armenia
View
Date:2025-04-18 11:55:42
Azerbaijan’s president said Sunday that his country was ready to hold talks with Armenia on a prospective peace treaty after reclaiming the breakaway Armenian-populated region of Nagorno-Karabakh, noting that Georgia would be a preferable venue for the negotiations.
President Ilham Aliyev made the statement on a visit to Georgia after snubbing a planned meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on the sidelines of a European summit in Granada, Spain, on Thursday that the EU has tried to broker.
A day earlier, Aliyev scathingly criticized France for promising to supply Armenia with weapons, telling President of the European Council Charles Michel in Saturday’s phone call that he didn’t attend the meeting in Granada because of France’s position, the Azerbaijani leader’s office said.
Aliyev noted that “the provision of weapons by France to Armenia was an approach that was not serving peace, but one intended to inflate a new conflict, and if any new conflict occurs in the region, France would be responsible for causing it,” according to a readout of the call issued by his office.
In a 24-hour campaign that began Sept. 19, Azerbaijan reclaimed control over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh after three decades of separatist rule, forcing the undermanned and outgunned Armenian forces to capitulate. The separatist government agreed to disband itself by the end of the year, but Azerbaijani authorities immediately moved to reassert control of the region and arrested several top former separatist officials.
Speaking to reporters after Sunday’s talks in Tbilisi with Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, Aliyev said he was grateful to Georgia for its mediation efforts, adding that Azerbaijan will be ready to attend the talks to discuss issues related to a peace treaty if Armenia agrees.
“Several countries and some international organizations are trying to support the process of normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” Aliyev said. “We welcome any mediation and assistance if it’s not one-sided and biased.”
He emphasized that Georgia, which borders Armenia and Azerbaijan, would be the best host for prospective peace treaty talks.
Azerbaijan’s blitz offensive has triggered an exodus of over 100,000 people — more than 80% of its ethnic Armenian residents. While Azerbaijan has pledged to respect the rights of ethnic Armenians, most of them have rushed to flee the region, fearing reprisals.
After six years of separatist fighting ended in 1994 following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Nagorno-Karabakh came under the control of ethnic Armenian forces, backed by Armenia, turning about 1 million of its Azerbaijani residents into refugees. After a six-week war in 2020, Azerbaijan took back parts of the region in the South Caucasus Mountains, along with surrounding territory that Armenian forces had captured earlier.
Azerbaijan’s presidential office said the country has presented a plan for the “reintegration” of ethnic Armenians in the region, noting that “the equality of rights and freedoms, including security, is guaranteed to everyone regardless of their ethnic, religious or linguistic affiliation.”
Speaking to Michel on Saturday, Aliyev blamed the Armenians’ exodus from the region on separatist authorities that encouraged them to leave. The Azerbaijani leader said that Azerbaijani authorities had provided humanitarian assistance to the Armenian residents of Karabakh and “the process of their registration had started.”
Aliyev also told Michel that “eight villages of Azerbaijan were still under Armenian occupation, and stressed the importance of liberating these villages from occupation,” according to the Azerbaijani leader’s office.
veryGood! (3541)
Related
- $73.5M beach replenishment project starts in January at Jersey Shore
- Surprisingly durable US economy poses key question: Are we facing higher-for-longer interest rates?
- 'Comfortable in the chaos': How NY Giants are preparing for the frenzy of NFL cut day
- Dangerous heat wave from Texas to the Midwest strains infrastructure, transportation
- At site of suspected mass killings, Syrians recall horrors, hope for answers
- Notre Dame vs. Navy in Ireland: Game time, how to watch, series history and what to know
- Hundreds in Oregon told to evacuate immediately because of wildfire near Salem
- California may pay unemployment to striking workers. But the fund to cover it is already insolvent
- Pregnant Kylie Kelce Shares Hilarious Question Her Daughter Asked Jason Kelce Amid Rising Fame
- Legislators press DNR policy board appointees on wolves, pollution, sandhill crane hunt
Ranking
- Who's hosting 'Saturday Night Live' tonight? Musical guest, how to watch Dec. 14 episode
- Montana woman sentenced to life in prison for torturing and killing her 12-year-old grandson
- India’s spacecraft is preparing to land on the moon in the country’s second attempt in 4 years
- Aaron Rodgers set to make Jets debut: How to watch preseason game vs. Giants
- The Super Bowl could end in a 'three
- Martin Luther King Jr’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech turns 60 as fresh civil rights battles emerge
- NFL cornerback Caleb Farley leans on faith after dad’s death in explosion at North Carolina home
- Summer School 7: Negotiating and the empathetic nibble
Recommendation
Working Well: When holidays present rude customers, taking breaks and the high road preserve peace
Burning Man gates open for worker access after delays from former Hurricane Hilary
Aaron Rodgers' new Davante Adams, 'fat' Quinnen Williams and other 'Hard Knocks' lessons
Former police chief who once led Gilgo Beach probe charged with soliciting sex from undercover ranger at Long Island park
Nevada attorney general revives 2020 fake electors case
Man fatally shot by officer after police say he pointed a gun at another person and ran
Drowning death of former President Obama’s personal chef on Martha’s Vineyard ruled an accident
Ethiopia launching joint investigation with Saudi Arabia after report alleges hundreds of migrants killed by border guards