By AFP | 2025-03-18

BAKU -- Azerbaijan and Armenia Thursday (March 13) said that they had wrapped up talks aimed at resolving the Caucasus neighbors' decades-long conflict, with both sides agreeing on the text of a possible treaty.

A deal to normalize ties would be a major breakthrough in a region where Russia, the European Union (EU), the United States and Türkiye all jostle for influence.

Baku and Yerevan fought two wars for control of Azerbaijan's Armenian-populated region of Karabakh, at the end of the Soviet Union and again in 2020, before Azerbaijan seized the entire area in a 24-hour offensive in September 2023.

Both Armenia and Azerbaijan have repeatedly said a comprehensive peace deal to end their long-standing conflict is within reach, but previous talks had failed to reach consensus on a draft agreement.

"The negotiation process on the text of the peace agreement with Armenia has been concluded," Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov told reporters.

"Armenia has accepted Azerbaijan's proposals on the two previously unresolved articles of the peace treaty," he said.

Armenia's Foreign Ministry later confirmed that in a statement, saying: "Negotiations on the draft agreement have been concluded" and "the Peace Agreement is ready for signing."

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan hailed it as an "important event," saying Yerevan was "ready to begin discussions on the place and time for signing the peace agreement."

"We believe this text is a compromise, as a peace agreement should be," he told reporters.

Moving forward

But in a hint at enduring tensions, Armenia criticized Azerbaijan for making a statement unilaterally rather than issuing a joint one.

Pashinyan has recognized Baku's sovereignty over Karabakh after three decades of Armenian separatist rule, a move seen as a crucial first step towards normalization of relations.

Armenia last year returned to Azerbaijan four border villages it had seized decades earlier.

Almost all ethnic Armenians -- more than 100,000 people -- fled Karabakh after its takeover by Baku.

Pashinyan Thursday said that two points in the draft peace agreement had remained unresolved up to now.

One key issue was "non-deployment of third-party forces" along the countries' shared border, he said.

There were disagreements over plans for both sides to mutually withdraw legal cases from international judicial bodies.

The two countries have been locked in legal battles at the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court and the European Court of Human Rights over allegations of rights violations committed before, during and after their armed conflicts.

Azerbaijan's "next expectation from Armenia is constitutional amendments," Bayramov said.

Baku is demanding that Armenia remove from its constitution a reference to its declaration of independence, which asserts territorial claims over Karabakh.

Any such amendments to Armenia's constitution would require a referendum.

'A decisive step'

Tensions over the conflict have driven a wedge between Armenia and Russia, with Yerevan accusing its ally of not doing enough to support it.

Armenia last year suspended its participation in the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization over the bloc's failure to come to its aid in the conflict with Azerbaijan.

Russia, the United States and the EU have all tried to mediate at various times in the conflict.

Top EU officials on Friday congratulated Armenia and Azerbaijan for finalizing a peace deal to end their decades-long conflict and urged them to sign the treaty soon.

"The announcements represent a decisive step towards lasting peace and security in the region," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said, commending "both sides for their persistent work."

Antonio Costa, who heads the European Council representing the EU's 27 member states, congratulated Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on the peace deal.

"I now encourage you to move forward with a swift signature of the peace agreement," he wrote on X.

"The EU stands ready to support all further steps toward lasting peace and security in the South Caucasus."

French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the announcement, writing on X that "there are now no remaining obstacles to the signing of a peace treaty... which should pave the way for a lasting peace in the South Caucasus."