Highlights: Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders to meet in Brussels on Sunday. The two countries have been fighting for control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region. The presidents of France and Germany will also meet on the sidelines of the summit. The talks are the latest in a long line of attempts to resolve the conflict between the two countries, which began in the early 1990s. The U.S. and Russia have been mediating between the countries for years, but have not reached an agreement.

This is a new stage in attempts at reconciliation between the two countries of the Caucasus. For the past thirty years, Armenia and Azerbaijan have been fighting for control of Nagorno-Karabakh, a...

Armenia, Azerbaijan leaders to meet in Brussels on Sunday

An Armenian soldier stands guard next to the Nagorno-Karabakh flag at a new border with the Kalbajar district in November 2020 (Image illustration). © Sergei Grits / AP

Text by: RFI Follow

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This is a new stage in attempts at reconciliation between the two countries of the Caucasus. For the past three decades, Armenia and Azerbaijan have been fighting for control of Nagorno-Karabakh, a region disputed between the two countries.

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European Council President Charles Michel will receive Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Sunday (May 14th) to "promote stability in the South Caucasus and normalization between the two countries," according to a statement.

The meeting in Brussels comes as the United States says "tangible progress" was made in the intense four-day talks in Washington in early May. A peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh is now said to be "in sight".

The two leaders of the countries in conflict also agreed to meet, together, the presidents of France and Germany, on the sidelines of the European summit on June 1 in Moldova, according to the statement of the European Union. They pledged to meet in Brussels "as frequently as necessary to manage developments on the ground".

A long conflict

The two Caucasus countries fought in two wars in the early 1990s and in 2020 for control of Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous region mostly populated by Armenians that seceded from Azerbaijan more than three decades ago.

Tensions, already high, escalated when Baku announced on 23 April that it had installed a first road checkpoint at the entrance to the Lachin corridor, the only axis linking Armenia to the separatist enclave, already subject to a months-long blockade that has caused shortages and power cuts.

Russia, for its part, warmly welcomed last week's talks between Baku and Yerevan in Washington. Moscow insists that there was "no alternative" to its own mediation between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

After a short war that saw Azerbaijan retake territories in this region in autumn 2020, Baku and Yerevan signed a ceasefire, promoted by Moscow. Since then, Russian peacekeepers have been stationed in Nagorno-Karabakh, but Armenia has been complaining for several months about their ineffectiveness.

(

With AFP)

► Also listen: Great report - In Armenia, the impossible border with Azerbaijan

Armenia, Azerbaijan leaders to meet in Brussels on Sunday

Armenia, Azerbaijan leaders to meet in Brussels on Sunday

A long conflict

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