Blinken urges diplomacy as Armenia, Azerbaijan FMs meet | Politics Information
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken hosts international ministers for first assembly since lethal border clashes final week.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has urged “a sturdy peace” between Armenia and Azerbaijan, as the highest United States diplomat introduced the 2 nations’ international ministers collectively for his or her first in-person assembly since an outbreak of violence final week.
Blinken hosted Armenian International Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Azerbaijani International Minister Jeyhun Bayramov at a New York Metropolis lodge on Monday on the sidelines of the annual United Nations Basic Meeting.
It was the international ministers’ first face-to-face assembly since two days of shelling final week.
Blinken mentioned he was “inspired” there had been no violence for a number of days. “Sturdy, sustainable diplomatic engagement is the perfect path for everybody,” he mentioned forward of the assembly.
“There’s a path to a sturdy peace that resolves the variations by diplomacy. The USA is ready to do no matter it will probably to assist these efforts. And I’m grateful to each of my colleagues for being right here in the present day to pursue this dialog.”
The assembly was held only a day after US Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Armenia and condemned Azeri assaults, drawing complaints from Baku.
“The unsubstantiated and unfair accusations levelled by Pelosi towards Azerbaijan are unacceptable,” the nation’s international ministry mentioned in an announcement. “This can be a critical blow to the efforts to normalise relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.”
The nationwide safety council in Armenia revised its death toll from final week’s combating from 136 to 207, taking complete fatalities on each side to 286.
A ceasefire took impact on Wednesday after the outbreak of violence, which marked the worst flare-up since Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a six-week war over the Nagorno-Karabakh area in 2020.
The 2 former Soviet international locations have been locked in a decades-old battle over Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnically Armenian enclave inside Azerbaijan that has been beneath the management of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist struggle there resulted in 1994.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have traded blame for the most recent spherical of shelling, with Armenian authorities accusing Baku of unprovoked aggression and Azeri officers saying their nation was responding to Armenian assaults.
Talking forward of Monday’s assembly in New York Metropolis, Azeri International Minister Bayramov mentioned his nation is “happy with the extent of relations” with the US.
Bayramov additionally mentioned his direct talks together with his Armenian counterpart, Mirzoyan, weren’t uncommon. “We’re at all times open for conferences,” he mentioned.
