A view shows the village of Taghavard in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, January 16, 2021. (REUTERS File Photo)
Armenia has made a comprehensive peace offer to Azerbaijan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a cabinet meeting in Yerevan on Thursday, in a move designed to end decades of friction and conflict.
"The final and complete version of an agreement with our proposals has been handed over," Pashinyan said.
The two former Soviet republics have been in a state of conflict for decades over the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region, which lies in Azerbaijan but whose population is largely Armenian.
An agreement would provide for monitoring mechanisms by both sides to prevent breaches of the peace. Yerevan had drawn up a document and was prepared to sign it, Pashinyan said. "Obviously, it has to be acceptable to Azerbaijan as well," he added.
Copies have been sent to Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) members Russia, the United States and France. These countries are co-chairs of the Minsk Group set up by the OSCE in 1992 to seek a peaceful solution to the ethnic conflict.
The first Nagorno-Karabakh War ended in 1994 with the region breaking away and falling under Armenia's control. In the second war in 2020, Azerbaijan took back much of the territory.
Conflict has erupted repeatedly despite a ceasefire. Azerbaijan has for months blocked the Lachin Corridor which provides Armenia's sole access to Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenia has expressed disappointment at what it sees as inaction on the part of Russian peacekeepers in the region and called for an international observer mission.
