Blinken advocated diplomacy to resolve tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a telephone conversation with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Monday and urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to resolve tensions between the two countries with diplomacy.

“The Secretary underlined the continuing importance of the bilateral partnership between the United States and Armenia and the commitment of the United States to promote a peaceful, democratic and prosperous future for the South Caucasus,” U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price explained in a statement.

Likewise, on the escalation of tensions between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces, Blinken called on the parties to show “restraint and intensify diplomatic commitment to find comprehensive solutions to all outstanding issues”.

Thus, Blinken reiterated in the statement the United States' “commitment” to hold Moscow and its supporters accountable for the Kremlin's “unprovoked and unjustified war” against Ukraine.

In this regard, the Government of Armenia announced on Monday that it has responded to Azerbaijan's proposals and called on the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to organize negotiations for the signing of a peace agreement.

In response, the spokeswoman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, Leyla Abdullayeva, confirmed that Baku sent a few days ago a “proposal with the basic principles for the establishment of relations between the two countries”.

Armenia and Azerbaijan staged a confrontation in 2020 for taking control of Nagorny Karabakh, a territory with a predominantly Armenian population that has been the focus of conflict since it decided to separate in 1988 from the Azerbaijani region integrated into the Soviet Union.

The hostilities between the two nations lasted for six weeks and left thousands of people dead. They finally ceased when the two countries reached an agreement on the ceasefire with the mediation of Russia allowing Russian peacekeepers to be established in Nagorny Karabakh for a period of five years.

(With information from Europa Press)

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