PACE President urges Armenia & Azerbaijan to boost efforts for ensuring regional peace
By Vugar Khalilov
President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Tiny Kox has urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to boost their efforts for ensuring sustainable peace in the South Caucasus, Azernews reports.
During the PACE fall session, Kox asked Armenia and Azerbaijan to use the opportunity to discuss important issues between the two countries.
"I appeal to the members of Armenia and Azerbaijan Parliaments to use this platform as a forum for discussion through the dialogue of acute and important topics," he said.
Following Armenia and Azerbaijan's 44-day war (2020), Europe gained the upper hand in organizing peace talks between the two archrivals. So far, four Brussels meetings between Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders have been conducted under the auspices of EU Council President Charles Michel to prepare the ground for the ultimate peace agreement.
As a result of the meetings, several favorable outcomes, such as joint border commissions on state border delimitation, have been reached.
Furthermore, the recent October 6 meeting in Prague between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan produced a certain positive outcome, too.
Following the meeting, all parties reaffirmed their commitment to the peace negotiations while recognizing each other's territorial integrity.
President Ilham Aliyev praised the EU's efforts in the peace talks during an interview with Azerbaijani TV channels, emphasizing that Azerbaijan and Armenia are gradually reaching peace.
“I do hope that we are slowly getting closer to peace, and I highly appreciate Charles Michel's work in this area. Because, as you know, several trilateral meetings have been held in Brussels, and we are getting closer to peace every time. This four-sided meeting was organized by Charles Michel and Emmanuel Macron, and this meeting discussed important issues. I believe that this meeting will be of tremendous importance in reaching a peace agreement,” Aliyev stressed.
Aliyev added that the peace talks are still ongoing and should not be disrupted.
“The ministers should meet for the second time soon, and we have suggested that after that the working groups of both countries come together to prepare the text of the peace agreement, perhaps not in one meeting, but over the course of a few days,” he underlined.
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