Azerbaijan does not want to negotiate peace in the USA
The conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region has been resolved militarily, but is politically deadlocked. This is unlikely to change any time soon. Azerbaijan has rejected peace talks with Armenia in the USA. The Americans are not real mediators, according to Baku.
Azerbaijan has rejected participation in planned talks in the USA to normalize its relations with neighbouring Armenia. It was "not possible to hold the planned meeting at the level of the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia on November 20, 2023 in Washington", according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry in Baku. The ministry explained that Washington was "biased" towards Baku and could therefore "lose its role as a mediator".
The statement from Baku came after a hearing of James O'Brien, Director for Europe at the US State Department, before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US House of Representatives. O'Brien had said there that after the events of September 19, "nothing will be normal in relations with Azerbaijan until we see progress towards peace".
Azerbaijan launched a large-scale military offensive on September 19 and shortly afterwards took complete control of Nagorno-Karabakh, which had long been de facto ruled by pro-Armenian separatists. In the meantime, almost all of the region's former 120,000 Armenian inhabitants have fled to Armenia.
Aliyev and Pashinyan were optimistic
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan have already held several rounds of negotiations mediated by the EU. Both politicians declared that a peace agreement could be signed in the coming months.
The former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia have been in dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region since the collapse of the Soviet Union and have waged war over it on several occasions. Under international law, the region belongs to Azerbaijan.
- Despite optimistic statements from Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan about potential peace agreements mediated by the EU, Azerbaijan has consistently rejected peace talks with Armenia in international venues, such as the USA.
- The ongoing political deadlock over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, has been exacerbated by the EU's inability to serve as an effective mediator, as both Azerbaijan and its adversary, Armenia, view the USA and other Western nations as biased towards the other side.
- As a result of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, which has involved numerous wars and conflicts, the region has been largely depopulated, with its former 120,000 Armenian inhabitants fleeing to Armenia following Azerbaijan's military takeover of the region in September 2023.
Source: www.ntv.de
