Representatives from archrivals Armenia and Azerbaijan will come together again in Washington for another round of normalization talks this month, the U.S. Department of State announced Monday as tensions persist on their troubled border.
An exact date was not provided, but spokesperson Vedant Patel said the parties would use the talks to "continue to pursue a peaceful future for the South Caucasus region."
"Direct dialogue is key to resolving issues and reaching a durable and dignified peace," he said.
Peace talks have been ongoing in a number of different venues, including in Washington where negotiations were last held in early May. A follow-up round was held in Europe later last month that included a sit-down between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
Patel said the Biden administration is "pleased that talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan are proceeding in different venues."
Earlier Monday, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said a peace agreement with neighboring Armenia would be "inevitable" as the two sides continue work to end a decadeslong dispute.
The two ex-Soviet Union republics gained independence in 1991 when the USSR broke up and have gone to war twice over several disputed territories, mainly Karabakh, which was internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but occupied by Armenia for nearly three decades.
Tens of thousands of people were killed in the two wars over the region, one lasting six years and ending in 1994 and the second in 2020, which ended in a Russia-negotiated cease-fire deal that saw Moscow deploy a peacekeeping contingent along the Lachin corridor, the only road linking Armenia to the enclave.
However, a dispute over establishing a checkpoint on the Lachin corridor in April has refueled violent tension between the rival nations, which saw another half a dozen people killed from both sides since last December.
Baku said the border checkpoint was created in response to security threats from Armenia, citing the transfer of weapons and ammunition to the Karabakh region.
Yerevan denied the charges and claimed the move violated the cease-fire. Armenia, which relies on Russia as a security guarantor, is also frustrated over what it sees as the Kremlin’s failure to fulfill its peacekeeping role in the territory.
With major regional power Russia struggling to maintain its decisive influence due to the fallout from its war on Ukraine, the conflict has since drawn more Western mediation efforts.
In addition to meetings in Washington and Brussels, Aliyev and Pashinian met face to face again later in Moscow alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin to hammer out a peace agreement.
While talks didn’t yield such a deal, Pashinian reiterated his announcement that his country would recognize Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan and would open all transport links.
Aliyev too has expressed there was a chance for normalization.
