Azerbaijani president, U.S. secretary of state address peace talks with Armenia

In a Monday phone call, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed peace talks with Azerbaijan's Caucasus neighbor Armenia.

"Antony Blinken stressed the importance of achieving lasting peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, stating that the U.S. will continue to make efforts toward this goal," said the Azerbaijan Presidency in a statement.

Blinken described the successes achieved in the process of border demarcation between Azerbaijan and Armenia and the signing of regulations on joint activities of the border demarcation commissions on Aug. 30 "as a positive step."

"Stating that peace now exists in the region, the President of our country emphasized that it is precisely through Azerbaijan's efforts that new realities and a status quo based on justice and international law have emerged in our region," the statement added.

Saying that the initiative to start peace negotiations with Armenia came from Azerbaijan, Aliyev underlined that for the peace agreement to be signed, Armenia needs to remove its territorial claims against Azerbaijan from its Constitution and other legal provisions.

"Addressing the issue of border delimitation, President Ilham Aliyev noted the positive results achieved within the framework of the bilateral process and stated that this process will be conducted based on the Regulation," it said

Aliyev also said the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group, which was established to resolve the Karabakh issue between Armenia and Azerbaijan but was noted for its lack of success over the course of nearly 30 years, should be dissolved.

Aliyev and Blinken also discussed COP 29, the UN climate change conference Azerbaijan is set to host on Nov. 11-22, as well as bilateral relations.

TENSE RELATIONS

Relations between southern Caucasus countries have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

Most of the territory was liberated by Azerbaijan during a 44-day war in the fall of 2020, which ended after a Russian-brokered peace agreement that opened the door to normalization and the demarcation of their border.

In September 2023, Azerbaijan established full sovereignty in Karabakh following an "anti-terrorist operation" after which separatist forces in the region surrendered.