President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan has become more antagonistic toward outside intervention in attempting to mediate a settlement, charging that the US is endangering relations by supporting Armenia
Five months after Azerbaijan reclaimed its Karabakh region from its majority-Armenian population, causing a large-scale exodus of ethnic Armenians, Germany is hosting two days of peace talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan has become more antagonistic toward outside intervention in attempting to mediate a settlement, charging that the US is endangering relations by supporting Armenia.
However, in November, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock visited both nations. Additionally, on the fringes of the Munich Security Conference this month, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had meetings with Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
In December, the South Caucasus neighbours issued a joint statement saying they want to reach a peace deal.
Christian Armenia and mostly Muslim Azerbaijan first went to war over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh in 1988. After decades of enmity, Azerbaijan in September recaptured Karabakh, controlled by its ethnic Armenian majority since the 1990s despite being internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan.
The offensive prompted most of the region’s 120,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to neighbouring Armenia.
Armenia described the offensive as ethnic cleansing. Azerbaijan denied that and said those who fled could have stayed on and been integrated into Azerbaijan.
The German Foreign Ministry is hosting the talks. Baerbock will meet separately with her Azerbaijani and Armenian counterparts on Wednesday before hosting a trilateral meeting.