Armenia, Azerbaijan leaders pledge to avoid conflict

At a meeting in Munich, Germany, with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on February 17, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged a quick conclusion to peace negotiations, according to a statement issued by Scholz.

"The German Chancellor praised the commitments made today by both sides to resolve differences of opinion and open issues through peaceful means and without the use of force," the statement said.

From left, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Munich on February 17.

No official statements have been made by Armenia or Azerbaijan. But a pledge to avoid conflict would be a marked change in tone from Prime Minister Pashinyan’s warning on February 15 that Azerbaijan was planning a “full-scale war.”

On February 13, both sides also accused each other of opening fire on the volatile Armenia-Azerbaijan border, in a clash that Armenia said left four of its soldiers dead.

Tensions between the two Caucasus neighbors have remained high since Azerbaijan retook control of the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh in a lightning military offensive in September 2023.

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Yerevan fears that after successfully retaking control of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan could advance into Armenian territory to create a land link with Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan region.

Meanwhile, President Aliyev said in his re-inauguration speech on February 14 that it was Armenia, not Azerbaijan, that had unresolved territorial claims.

Pashinyan and Aliyev had previously said a peace deal could have been signed by the end of last year, but internationally mediated peace talks had failed to produce a breakthrough, AFP reported.

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