Yerevan, Baku Spar Over Rebuffing Pashinyan-Aliyev Talks in England
Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other of rejecting to hold talks while both their leaders are in England to take part in the European Political Community summit.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan were invited and attended the European conference in Blenheim Palace in England.
Yerevan claimed that Aliyev rejected Pashinyan’s offer to meet on the margins of the summit after official Baku accused Armenia of undermining the peace process, saying the Armenian leader rebuffed British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s offer to host talks.
Aliyev’s senior adviser Hikmet Hajiyev accused Pashinyan of “withdrawing from dialog and the intention to promote a peace agenda.”
Soon after the Hajiyev statement, Armenia’s foreign ministry spokesperson Ani Badalyan issued a statement blaming Aliyev for refusing to meet with Pashinyan.
“The Armenian side proposed a bilateral meeting between the prime minister of Armenia and the president of Azerbaijan within the framework of the European Political Community summit but the Azerbaijani side rejected the proposal,” Badalian said, adding that “The Armenian side’s offer is still in force.”
She reiterated Armenia’s commitment to the peace process, saying that Yerevan is ready to “intensify high-level negotiations and reach the signing of a peace agreement within a month.”
While Yerevan has insisted that the signing of a peace agreement is feasible “within a month,” Aliyev has demanded that Armenia change its constitution as a precondition to the signing of a peace treaty. Last week, Aliyev also said that a peace document may be signed through a mutual consensus on the main points, with the details to be ironed out in the future.
Last week, the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Ararat Mirzoyan and Jeyhum Bayramov, met in Washington in talks hosted by Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the margins of the NATO Summit.
Following the meeting, Yerevan and Baku reported that there was no breakthrough in the talks and pledged to continue meetings, despite the State Department urging both sides to make “tough compromises.”
