German FM urges Armenia, Azerbaijan to revive peace talks

YEREVAN: German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Friday urged arch-foes Armenia and Azerbaijan to resume internationally mediated peace talks, weeks after Baku recaptured Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenian separatists.

The Caucasus neighbours have been locked in a decades-long conflict for control of Azerbaijan´s Armenian-populated region, which Baku reclaimed in a lightning offensive in September.

Western-mediated negotiations to broker a wider comprehensive peace agreement between the two sides have so far failed to produce a breakthrough. On a visit to Armenia on Friday, Baerbock said “the moderation efforts by the president of the European Council Charles Michel are a bridge and the fastest way to peace”.

“That is why it is so important that a new round of negotiations takes place,” she said, adding that “Germany stands by your side as an honest broker between Armenia and Azerbaijan”.

At a press conference in Yerevan alongside her Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan, Baerbock said: the “territorial integrity of Armenia and Azerbaijan ... is the basis for any negotiations for peace.” “We want to accompany you on this path to a good future in the South Caucasus,” she said, urging both sides to “use this window for a negotiated peace.”