Armenia says peace deal with Azerbaijan possible by year end - report

By REUTERS

JUNE 5, 2023 00:37

Updated: JUNE 5, 2023 01:47

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and members of the delegation attend a meeting to defuse tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, in Moscow, Russia, May 19, 2023. (photo credit: RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS) — Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and members of the delegation attend a meeting to defuse tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, in Moscow, Russia, May 19, 2023.

(photo credit: RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)

Both sides routinely accuse the other of breaking a ceasefire agreed in 2020.

A senior Armenian official on Sunday said there was a chance that a peace deal could be signed with neighboring Azerbaijan by the end of 2023, ending a decades-old conflict, Russia's TASS news agency said.

Moscow, Washington and the European Union are all trying separately to help ensure permanent peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which have fought two wars in the last 30 years over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

TASS cited Armen Grigoryan, the secretary of Armenia's Security Council, as telling national television that the negotiations were very intensive.

"If we can maintain this intensity and there is strong support from the international community to achieve progress, then there is a chance to have a peace treaty by the end of the year," he said.

Struggles over control

In 2020, Azerbaijan seized control of areas controlled by ethnic Armenians in and around Nagorno-Karabakh. The enclave is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but populated mainly by ethnic Armenians.

Both sides routinely accuse the other of breaking a ceasefire agreed in 2020.

Last week TASS said European Council President Charles Michel, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev would meet in July.