Armenia premier to meet Azerbaijan president in Prague

By Seda Sevencan

ISTANBUL (AA) - Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will meet Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev during an informal EU summit in the Czech capital of Prague on Thursday, state media said.

According to Armenian news agency Armenpress on Wednesday, Pashinyan will have a quadrilateral meeting with Aliyev, French President Emmanuel Macron and European Council President Charles Michel at the first meeting of the European Political Community.

“I am traveling to Prague to participate in the European Political Community summit. A quadrilateral meeting is planned there between myself, the Azerbaijani President, the French President and the President of the European Council. A meeting with the Turkish President (Recep Tayyip Erdogan) is also planned. We had announced about a possibility of this meeting. If nothing changes, these will be the main meetings that essentially fit into the general discussion of the peace agenda,” the news agency quoted Pashinyan as saying.

The international community has taken a leading role in mediating Armenia-Azerbaijan normalization process. The two countries fought two wars – in 2020 and in the 1990s – over the Karabakh region, which had been under Armenian occupation for decades.

The Armenian leader added that later he will head to Russia’s St. Petersburg to join the informal summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Leaders of 27 EU states, 17 European countries, including Türkiye, the UK and Ukraine, are invited to the summit. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is also expected to attend the meeting.

According to the EU, the European Political Community aims to "foster political dialogue and cooperation to address issues of common interest" and "strengthen the security, stability and prosperity of the European continent."