Expert: Azerbaijan-Armenia Berlin meeting - encouraging step towards sustainable peace

The recent meeting of Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan in Berlin gives hope for achieving sustainable peace in the South Caucasus, and apparently, the time for this has already come, Nina Lutterjohann, a political analyst/researcher and affiliated member of the MECACS Institute in the School of International Relations at the University of St Andrews, told Report.

The expert noted that the recent meeting of the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Berlin was distinguished by a peaceful tone and a desire to quickly achieve peace, which again sounds encouraging.

“The German platform could work because it is a ‘balanced actor’ and the timing seems to work,” she said.

“I think that this meeting was already prepared in November 2023 when Foreign Minister Baerbock travelled to both South Caucasus republics, also as it became clear that the meetings mediated by the EU and US were not moving forward. Additionally, promising is that the two countries had issued a joint statement in December saying they wanted to reach a peace deal,” she said, adding that the next step was a closed meeting within the Munich Security Conference on February 17 between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

According to her, despite the positive steps in the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, there are still challenges associated with the format of the negotiations. She added that the Armenian side prefers the involvement of Western mediators, while the Azerbaijani government is disappointed with any mediation.

“Another challenge is the [current] lack of border agreement between both countries and the Armenian lack of agreement to the Nakhchivan exclave through Armenian territory.”

Nevertheless, the expert expressed hope for continuing meetings with the aim of finally achieving peace in the South Caucasus region.