Washington has reaffirmed its help for peace talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia after Baku pulled out of an upcoming U.S.-hosted assembly citing allegedly “biased” remarks by a U.S. State Division official.
Throughout a November 16 press briefing, State Division spokesman Matthew Miller reiterated that Washington continues ”to help peace talks to resolve the problems between Azerbaijan and Armenia.”
“We’d encourage the 2 events to interact in these talks, whether or not they’re right here, whether or not they’re some other place, and that’ll proceed to be our coverage,” he added.
The feedback got here after Baku mentioned on November 16 that it might not take part in normalization talks with Yerevan that have been deliberate in america this month.
”We don’t contemplate it attainable to carry the proposed assembly on the extent of the international ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Washington on November 20, 2023,” the Azerbaijani International Ministry mentioned in an announcement.
The International Ministry mentioned the choice was in response to what it known as ”one-sided and biased remarks” made by the assistant U.S. secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, James O’Brien, in reference to Azerbaijan’s lightning offensive in September that resulted in Baku regaining management of the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
WATCH: Ethnic Armenian Rafik Sarkisian rode his beloved horse from Nagorno-Karabakh to security in Armenia after Azerbaijani forces attacked Nagorno-Karabakh on September 19. He traveled for over 24 hours earlier than an area Armenian household took within the exhausted 60-year-old.
O’Brian mentioned throughout a U.S. Home of Representatives International Affairs Committee assembly on November 15 that ”nothing will probably be regular with Azerbaijan after the occasions of September 19 till we see progress on the peace observe.”
”We have canceled numerous high-level visits, condemned [Baku’s] actions,” O’Brian added.
The Azerbaijani International Ministry mentioned the feedback ”have been a blow to bilateral and multilateral relations between Azerbaijan and america.”
The September offensive ended three a long time of rule by ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, which is internationally acknowledged as a part of Azerbaijan.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two wars within the final three a long time over the area, which had been a majority ethnic Armenian enclave for the reason that Soviet collapse.
The area initially got here beneath the management of ethnic Armenian forces, backed by the Armenian navy, in separatist preventing that resulted in 1994. Throughout a battle in 2020, nonetheless, Azerbaijan took again components of Nagorno-Karabakh together with surrounding territory that Armenian forces had claimed throughout the earlier battle.
Almost 100,000 ethnic Armenians, many of the area’s ethnic Armenian inhabitants, fled to Armenia after the newest offensive by Azerbaijan successfully gave Baku management over the remainder of the area.
In its November 16 assertion, the Azerbaijani International Ministry additionally mentioned that ”such a unilateral method by america may result in the lack of america’ mediation position.”
The identical day, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian mentioned that Yerevan’s ”political will to signal, within the coming months, a peace settlement with Azerbaijan stays unwavering.”
Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev have held a number of rounds of talks beneath EU mediation, though Baku in September withdrew from two conferences deliberate by the European Union.
The identical month, Aliyev additionally refused to attend a spherical of negotiations with Pashinian that have been to be mediated by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and European Council President Charles Michel.
Baku cited France’s allegedly ”biased place” towards Armenia as the explanation for skipping these talks in Spain.