Ahead of a summit to discuss Armenia-Azerbaijan relations scheduled for Wednesday in Brussels, the President of the Council of Europe Charles Michel phoned the leaders of the two countries.
While providing no concrete details, Michel said in a Twitter post that the discussions with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan were “preparatory calls.”
Pashinyan’s office reported that the sides touched upon Wednesday’s summit and “highlighted the continuation of dialogue and expressed hope for the negotiations to be effective.” The two also reportedly discussed issued related to Armenia-EU relations.
Aliyev’s office, in a statement, said that he and Michel discussed the agenda of Wednesday’s upcoming meeting.
Aliyev’s chief foreign policy adviser, Hikmet Hajiyev, said over the weekend that Wednesday’s meeting would decide to form a working group tasked with drafting an Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty—one of the conclusions of the two previous meetings mediated by Michel.
The European Council President has mediated two such meetings in April and May. Following the May 22 meeting, Michel said that Pashinyan and Aliyev had agreed to discuss a comprehensive peace treaty between the two countries.
Neither Pashinyan’s office nor Armenia’s foreign ministry have commented on Hajiyev’s statement.
At the center of this so-called peace treaty is Azerbaijan’s insistence that Yerevan recognize Baku’s sovereignty over Karabakh. Official in Armenia have insisted that a status and settlement of the Karabakh conflict is critical ahead of any treaty.
