Germany’s Scholz meets Azeri and Armenian leaders, pledges support for peace talks

By Anadolu staff

MUNICH (AA) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz held a meeting with Azeri and Armenian leaders on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.

During the meeting, Scholz reaffirmed Germany’s support for the peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the German government spokesman said in a statement.

“In these trilateral talks, the Chancellor called for a swift conclusion to the peace negotiations between the two countries. Germany and Europe are ready to support this to the best of their ability, including through the efforts of EU Council President Charles Michel,” Steffen Hebestreit said.

Chancellor Scholz thanked Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for the meeting, and welcomed the commitment from both sides to resolve existing differences “exclusively through peaceful means and without the use of force,” according to the statement.

Relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

Azerbaijan liberated most of the region during the war in the fall of 2020, which ended with a Russian-brokered peace agreement, opening the door to normalization.

Baku initiated an anti-terrorism operation in Karabakh last September to establish constitutional order, after which illegal separatist forces in the region surrendered.