Armenia and Azerbaijan have decided to launch preparations for peace talks between these two Caucasian countries, which clashed in 2020 for control of the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, said Thursday, April 7, Armenian diplomacy in a statement.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev ordered their respective foreign ministers to "start preparations for peace talks between the two countries" during a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday. , under the mediation of the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, specifies the press release.

“An agreement was reached during this meeting (…) to set up a bilateral commission on border delimitation issues,” he continues.

This commission will be responsible in particular for ensuring security and stability along the border, according to the same source.

For its part, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry announced that work was underway to begin peace negotiations, adding that the future agreement would be based on "the basic principles proposed earlier by Azerbaijan".

An agreement under the aegis of Brussels

For his part, Charles Michel assured, in a press release, that "President Aliyev and Prime Minister Pashinian have both expressed their desire to move quickly towards a peace agreement between their countries".

The meeting in Brussels came after renewed tensions in Nagorno-Karabakh, where Russian peacekeeping forces have been deployed since November 2020.

Russia had accused, at the end of March, Azerbaijan of having violated the ceasefire negotiated by Vladimir Putin there to end the conflict in 2020. Under the terms of this agreement, a Russian peacekeeping force was deployed in the Upper -Karabakh.

According to Moscow, the Azerbaijani army occupied a locality there and used attack drones.

Three Armenian soldiers were killed, according to Yerevan.

Another pass of arms in Nagorno-Karabakh 

Armenia has also accused Baku of having cut off gas in Nagorno-Karabakh, preventing the population from heating despite winter weather.

Azerbaijan brushed off the accusations, insisting on its sovereignty over the region.

In November 2020, a ceasefire signed under Russian mediation between Armenia and Azerbaijan ended a six-week war between these two former Soviet republics in the Caucasus which are fighting for control of the enclave. independence of Nagorno-Karabakh.

This conflict, which killed more than 6,500 people, ended in a heavy defeat for Armenia, which had to surrender large territories it had controlled since a first victorious war in the early 1990s.

Populated mainly by Armenians, the mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh, supported by Yerevan, seceded from Azerbaijan at the collapse of the USSR, leading to a first war in the 1990s which caused the death of 30,000 people and created hundreds of thousands of refugees.

With AFP and Reuters 

The summary of the

France 24 week invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you!

Download the France 24 app

google-play-badge_EN