June 1 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinián, held a meeting in Moldova this Thursday on the sidelines of the second summit of the European Political Community, and with the mediation of European leaders.
The meeting was also attended by the President of France, Emmanuel Macron; the chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz; and the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, who has classified the meeting as a “very good meeting” with a view to narrowing down positions.
According to Michel, the parties have addressed issues of “connectivity, security, rights, border delimitation and the peace treaty”, serving this appointment as “preparation” for the next meeting in Brussels, scheduled for July 21.
For its part, the French Presidency has remarked that Aliyev and Pashinián have promised to advance in the delimitation of borders and “have reaffirmed mutual respect for the territorial integrity” of both countries.
Meanwhile, Macron, Scholz and Michel have urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to respect their commitments, specifically to release prisoners of war “as soon as possible” in the context of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The President of the European Council has invited the other four leaders present at the meeting to participate in the next summit of the European Political Community, to be held in the city of Granada.
Michel himself already pointed out at the beginning of the week that it was essential for Aliyev and Pashinián to abandon “maximalist positions” ahead of the meeting this Thursday, and called the talks between the Azeri authorities and the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh “crucial”.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been involved in various confrontations in recent years over the control of Nagorno Karabagh, a territory with a majority Armenian population that has been the focus of conflict since it decided to separate in 1988 from the Azerbaijan region, which is part of the Soviet Union.
