US pleased to see continuous talks between Azerbaijan, Armenia

Matthew Miller, the US Department of State Spokesperson, has said that Washington is pleased to see that talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan have continued. 

"As Secretary Blinken said, peace is achievable in the South Caucasus.  We recently expressed appreciation for Prime Minister Pashinyan’s commitment to peace, and we welcome President Aliyev’s recent remarks on the consideration of amnesty," Miller said, according to the Department's press service.

He added that Armenia and Azerbaijan’s leaders will meet later this week in Chisinau with the European partners of the US and there are hopes that we hope that it will be a productive step to resolving these issues at the negotiating table and not through violence. 

"Aggressive rhetoric can only perpetuate the violence of the past; constructive dialogue—both public and private—can create peace, opportunity, and hope. The United States stands ready to support the efforts of both parties to conclude a durable and dignified peace agreement," Miller concluded.

From May 1-4, Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia – Jeyhun Bayramov and Ararat Mirzoyan – held consecutive meetings in the US hosted by Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Back then, Blinken announced that the sides “made tangible progress on a durable peace agreement.”

The US meetings were followed by the negotiations between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Brussels and Moscow. Both meetings were aimed at expediting the peace process by resolving outstanding issues on the bilateral agenda. Last week, the Azerbaijani Ambassador to France, Leyla Abdullayeva said Baku and Yerevan may sign a peace treaty in Moldova's capital Chisinau later this week.

Armenia and Azerbaijan had been at odds over the latter's Karabakh (Garabagh) region since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 when Armenia launched a military campaign against Azerbaijan. The war lasted until a ceasefire deal was reached in 1994 and as a result, Armenia occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territories. Over 30,000 ethnic Azerbaijanis were killed, and one million were expelled from these lands in a brutal ethnic cleansing campaign carried out by Armenia. The conflict spiralled again on September 27, 2020, after Armenia’s forces illegally deployed in occupied Azerbaijani lands shelled military positions and civilian settlements of Azerbaijan. During counter-attack operations, Azerbaijani forces liberated over 300 settlements, including the cities of Jabrayil, Fuzuli, Zangilan, Gubadli, and Shusha. The war ended in a statement signed on November 10, 2020, under which Armenia returned the occupied Aghdam, Kalbajar, and Lachin districts to Azerbaijan. 

However, the process of achieving lasting peace has been hindered by Armenia’s demands, including so-called “rights and security” for nearly 25,000 Armenians living in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, in addition to avoiding fulfilling its obligations under the trilateral statement, such as the withdrawal of its armed formations from the Azerbaijani territories.