The Region in Brief

Armenia

Opposition parties are disappointed in the outcome of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s fresh talks to normalize relations with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Brussels over the weekend. The two leaders met with European Council president Charles Michel, who stated that he expects to see continued momentum and decisive steps toward a peace agreement between the two countries, which recognized each other’s territorial integrity according to the 1991 Almaty Declaration. Michel also noted the potential release of more prisoners of war and encouraged Azerbaijan to protect the rights and security of the people of Artsakh. In a statement, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation said that Pashinyan supports the Aliyev regime’s policy of ethnic cleansing in Artsakh. Artsakh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for its part, noted the absence of any mention of the ongoing blockade and the establishment of an illegal Azerbaijani checkpoint. Artsakh officials also accused Michel of indulging Azerbaijan and using the suffering of Artsakh’s people as a political tool.