Hopes for facilitating dialogue between Azerbaijan and Armenia were dashed once again after a one-on-one meeting between the South Caucasus rivals’ leaders could not be held at the European Political Community (EPC) summit in the UK, Daily Sabah reported.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan were both present at the EPC summit in Oxfordshire.
The gathering aimed to provide an informal environment conducive to interaction between the two leaders, with hopes of advancing the peace agenda.
Despite efforts by the UK to mediate and create an informal setting for dialogue, the anticipated meeting between Aliyev and Pashinyan did not take place.
A senior British government official told Anadolu Agency (AA) that the UK is not attempting to mediate the ongoing dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Instead, the official added, the focus has been on facilitating an environment conducive to dialogue, consistent with the approach taken in previous EPC meetings.
The official suggested that the UK, as the host, had taken its responsibilities seriously, striving to bring the conflicting parties closer together.
Over time, there was progress and in the lead-up to this summit there were positive signs suggesting the possibility of a meeting, but to no avail, according to the official.
The Caucasus rivals fought two wars, in the 1990s and 2020, over control of Azerbaijan's Karabakh region. Years of internationally mediated peace talks between Baku and Yerevan have failed to produce a breakthrough, but the two countries' leaders said recently that a comprehensive peace deal is within reach.
SD/PR