The European Union welcomes the upcoming peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan – Liberation

The day after the« peace agreement » announced by Armenia and Azerbaijan after negotiations intended to settle decades of conflict between the two countriesthe leaders of the European Union expressed this Friday, March 14, their satisfaction and their hope on Friday, March 14. “We congratulate both parties for the sustained efforts they have made in recent years in this direction. (…) It is essential to maintain this dynamic and to ensure that this process is carried out without clashes ”, said in a statement the head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, adding that it was« A decisive step towards sustainable peace and security in the region » from the South Caucasus.

« The process of negotiations on the text of the peace agreement with Armenia has been concluded », The Azerbaijanist Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jeïi Baïramov. Shortly after, it was Armenian diplomacy that underlined in a statement that « The peace agreement » was « Ready to be signed » and that she wanted to start consultations « Regarding the date and place of the signature ». A sign of persistent tensions, however, Erevan reproached in his press release to Azerbaijan for making an ad « Unilateral », While she wanted her to be « Commune ».

The two countries were fought in two wars, one at the fall of the USSR, won by Armenia and the other in 2020, won by Azerbaijan. These focused on the control of The Karabakh region. Azerbaijani forces finally took up it in its entirety to Armenian separatists In September 2023, after a lightning military offensive which pushed to exodus almost all of the Armenian populationor some 100,000 people. Bilateral negotiations have lasted for years and have been marked by periods of advances but also tensions.

In January, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pachinian reported progress, stressing that two articles in the peace treaty remained unanswered. Azerbaijani's chief of diplomacy assured that Armenia had « Accepted the Azerbaijan proposals » On these points. Azerbaijan, richer and better armed than its neighbor thanks to its oil windfall and his alliance with Turkeyis now waiting for Armenia to fine its constitution, which refers to its declaration of independence, a document mentioning the views of Yerevan on the Karabakh.

Armenia has already recognized Azerbaijani sovereignty on this mountainous region that the two countries consider it historically central, and hence the Azerbaijan population had fled in the 1990s after the Armenian military victory. Last year, Armenia also returned to Bakou four border villages which she had controlled for decades, following an agreement on the delimitation of their border. Since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia, a traditional regional power, has largely remained away from this recent rapprochement process.

Moscow has tense relations with Armenia, who accuses him of not having supported him during the war, despite their military alliance. Russo-Azerbaijnaises relations have also been freezing since December 2024, Baku reproaching the diet of Vladimir Putin to have wanted to camouflage that the Russian anti -aircraft defense had mistakenly shot an Azerbaijani airliner. As for France, close to Armenia, she welcomed the announcement on the peace agreement on Thursday. « Nothing is now opposed to the signing of a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan, who must open the way to lasting peace in the South Caucasus », wrote on X Emmanuel Macron.