* Source and photo: AA
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Turkey, in a statement today (April 8), hailed the progress made towards a peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia at a meeting of the two countries' leaders and the head of the European Council.
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, Armeni̇a's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and European Council President Charles Michel held discussions in Belgium's capital city of Brussels on Wednesday (April 6).
Ankara has welcomed the decision of Azerbaijan and Armenia "to instruct their respective ministers of foreign affairs to begin preparations for a peace treaty as well as their agreement on the establishment of a joint border commission by the end of April between the two countries."
"Turkey supports and actively contributes to the efforts for establishing peace and stability in the region," the ministry statement has read.
Meeting on April 6
After the April 6 meeting, Michel announced that Aliyev and Pashinyan agreed to launch a "concrete process" for peace talks and made "a lot of progress." The leaders also agreed to set up a joint committee and to maintain a "channel of communication," Michel said.
The two also agreed to convene a Joint Border Commission by the end of April "to delimit the bilateral border between Armenia and Azerbaijan and ensure a stable security situation along, and in the vicinity of, the borderline," according to a statement released after the meeting.
European Council President Michel has been leading the EU's efforts to forge peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
He first met Aliyev and Pashinyan separately in December 2021, a little over a year after the end of their 44-day war over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, before hosting them for a working dinner in Brussels.
Relations between the former Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been tense since 1991. New clashes erupted in September 2020. The fighting ended in November 2020 with a deal brokered by Russia. (AÖ/SD)
