Armenia’s premier says Yerevan ready to sign peace deal with Azerbaijan by November

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Tuesday that Yerevan is ready to sign a peace deal with neighboring Azerbaijan by November.

“I agree with the idea of signing a peace agreement by November, and for this to happen, all agreed-upon principles must be enshrined in the agreement,” Pashinyan told a news conference in Yerevan.

Pashinyan further said he hopes that progress will be made in this regard at the upcoming meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers in Kazakhstan.

On Monday, Kazakh Foreign Ministry spokesman Aybek Smadiyarov confirmed during a press briefing in the capital Astana that Azerbaijan and Armenia’s top diplomats will hold talks on a peace deal on May 10 in the city of Almaty.

Relations between Baku and Yerevan have remained tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

Most of the territory was liberated by Azerbaijan during a 44-day war in the fall of 2020, which ended after a Russian-brokered peace agreement that opened the door to normalization and the demarcation of their border.

Last September, Azerbaijan established full sovereignty in Karabakh following an "anti-terrorist operation" after which separatist forces in the region surrendered.​​​​​​​