Azerbaijan-Armenia border delimitation commission to meet on Thursday

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) – The third meeting of the commission on delimitation and security of Azerbaijan-Armenia border will be held in Belgium’s capital Brussels on Nov. 3, Azerbaijani media said on Wednesday.

It was reported by Trend News Agency, citing sources from the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

The reports on the commission meeting came as the leaders of Azerbaijan, Russia and Armenia agreed to reaffirm their commitment to a comprehensive normalization of Baku-Yerevan relations, and to ensure peace, stability, security, and sustainable economic development of the South Caucasus after trilateral talks in Russia's Sochi on Monday.

During the talks, the leaders agreed to refrain from the use or threat of force to discuss issues and resolve them “solely on the basis of mutual recognition of sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of borders, in accordance with the UN Charter and the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1991,” a joint statement said.

On Sunday, the second meeting of the commission was held in Moscow under the chairmanship of Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev and his Armenian counterpart Mher Grigoryan.

The commission between the two neighboring countries was established on May 23, a day after European Council President Charles Michel hosted Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Brussels. On May 24, the commission held its first meeting on the Azerbaijan-Armenia interstate border.

Relations between the two former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.

In fall 2020, in 44 days of clashes, Baku liberated several cities, villages, and settlements from Armenian occupation, ending in a Moscow-brokered truce. The peace agreement is celebrated as a triumph in Azerbaijan.