Blinken speaks with Azerbaijani, Armenian leaders on peace talks

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke separately over the weekend with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia’s Prime Minster Nikol Pashinyan about the peace discussions between the two countries and “pledged continued US support.”

“Secretary Blinken shared his belief that peace was possible” during his phone call with Aliyev, said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller in a statement Sunday.

“He also expressed the United States’ deep concern that Azerbaijan’s establishment of a checkpoint on the Lachin corridor undermines efforts to establish confidence in the peace process and emphasized the importance of reopening the Lachin corridor to commercial and private vehicles as soon as possible,” Miller added.

On Saturday, Miller said in a separate statement that Blinken spoke with Pashinyan.

“Secretary Blinken reiterated that direct dialogue and diplomacy are the only path to a durable peace in the South Caucasus,” the statement said. “He expressed his appreciation for the Prime Minister’s continued commitment to the peace process.”

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan was set to arrive in Washington, D.C. on Sunday for a working visit as the next round of discussions on the agreement on normalization of relations between Yerevan and Baku is scheduled, Ani Badalyan, a spokesperson for Armenia’s Foreign Ministry, said Saturday.

Relations between the two former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Karabakh, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

Most of the territory was liberated by Baku during a war in the fall of 2020 which ended after a Russian-brokered peace agreement and opened the door to normalization.