The leaders of bitter enemies Azerbaijan and Armenia said some progress had been made toward peace between the two Caucasus nations during trilateral talks with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, but they made clear that much work still needed to be done.
The meeting at the Munich Security Conference on February 18 was the first between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian since October amid renewed tensions over a blockade of the Lachin Corridor, the only land route giving Armenia direct access to the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is legally part of Azerbaijan.
A statement posted on the Armenian prime minister’s website said that "reference was made to the progress of work on the draft peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as the unblocking of regional transport infrastructure and the implementation of delimitation between the two countries in line with the agreement reached in Prague."
In October, the European Council said the two leaders had met on the sidelines of a summit in Prague and agreed to a civilian EU mission alongside their common border, where clashes last year killed more than 200 people in the worst flare-up of fighting between the two Caucasus neighbors since 2020.
Following the Munich meeting, Pashinian's office said he "reaffirmed the determination of the Armenian side to achieve a treaty that will truly guarantee long-term peace and stability in the region."
The Armenian leader brought up the issue of "Azerbaijan's illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor and the resulting humanitarian, environmental, and energy crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh." Baku denies that it is blocking access to the region.
According to Russian news agencies, Aliyev said progress had been made on a peace deal and that his country was studying Yerevan's proposals but that he considered moves made so far to be insufficient.
Aliyev said Baku had proposed the establishment of checkpoints on the border between the two countries.
Russia's TASS news agency reported that the Munich talks lasted about 90 minutes.
Pashinian on February 15 said Armenia had proposed creating a demilitarized zone around Nagorno-Karabakh with international guarantees as part of its latest peace plan on the breakaway region.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been sparring over Nagorno-Karabakh for decades. The mainly ethnic Armenian enclave is part of Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994 with some 30,000 dead.
During a six-week war in 2020, Azerbaijan regained control of much of Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent territories held by Armenian forces. More than 6,500 people died in the fighting that was ended by a Russia-brokered peace agreement.
The blocking of the Lachin Corridor has led to sometimes tense standoffs between the protesting Azerbaijanis and Russian troops who are stationed there as part of the 2020 Russia-brokered deal.
Human Rights Watch said on December 21 that the blocking of the Lachin Corridor had disrupted access to essential goods and services for tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians living there.
Prior to the Munich meeting, Blinken said that "we believe that Armenia and Azerbaijan have a genuinely historic opportunity to secure an enduring peace after more than 30 years of conflict."
He said that "the United States is committed to doing anything we can to support these efforts, whether it's directly with our friends, whether it's in a trilateral format such as this, or with other international partners."