Azerbaijan says Baku, Yerevan close to final deal on peace treaty

He made the remarks during a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

“The President of Azerbaijan noted that the significant delay of Armenia with its proposals on the text of the peace treaty adversely affected the process but despite that, the parties are close to reaching the final agreement and negotiations will continue after COP,” the press service announced.

The German Chancellor said in his turn that Germany supports building peace and good-neighborly relations between the countries and informed that he would not be able to attend the leaders’ summit within the framework of the COP29 due to the political situation in his country.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have engaged in a series of bloody confrontations since both republics declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The two countries fought a war over the self-proclaimed republic of Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020, and Azerbaijani forces clashed with the province’s separatist forces in 2023. The conflict ended with the dissolution of Nagorno-Karabakh’s government and the return of the province to Azerbaijani control.

Although situated inside Azerbaijani territory, Nagorno-Karabakh was governed by ethnic Armenian separatists until last year. Before the fall of the USSR, the province had ruled itself as an autonomous region within the Azerbaijan SSR.