Washington D.C./29.04.23/Turan TURAN’s U.S. reporter was informed from diplomatic sources that Washington will host the next round Karabakh discussions between Azerbaijan & Armenia next week in a move to bridge their divisions and achieve a road map of peace.
The foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Jeyhun Bayramov and Ararat Mirzoyan, are expected to be in the U.S. capital as early as on Monday, May 1, at the invitation of Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
No further details have been determined yet, the source said, adding however, the meeting between the foreign ministers might “last several days.”
When reporters asked the State Department for comment on Friday, they did not respond. Vedant Patel, the Department’s principal Deputy spokesperson, said in a daily briefing to reporters that Washington is “deeply engaged” in finding an durable peace between Armenian and Azerbaijan. Secretary Blinken, Senior Coordinator Louis Bono, and Acting Assistant Secretary Dereck Hogan are all deeply committed to this issue.
When opportunity has provided itself, Secretary Blinken has directly engaged with these two countries and will continue to do so…” Blinken has already held talks with both foreign ministers (last Nov in Washington), as well as the leaders of both countries (In Feb, on the margins of the Munich Security Conference).
The upcoming ministerial meeting, however, comes just days after the French Foreign Minister held separate talks in Baku and Yerevan to try to broker a settlement to a longstanding conflict. The sources claim that if the Washington talks are successful in developing a roadmap for peace, Europe would “finish the work” by hosting Azerbaijan’s and Armenia’s leaders for a treaty of peace “within weeks”.
Alex Raufoglu
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