The Azerbaijani side has reportedly decided to postpone the meeting of the Peace Bridge Initiative, planned to be held between Armenian and Azerbaijani civil society members in Yerevan, ‘until tensions subside’. The abrupt cancellation comes after Azerbaijan questioned the Armenian origins of monasteries in Nagorno-Karabakh in mid-September, prompting condemnation in Armenia.

The mutual visits of Armenian and Azerbaijani civil society representatives were launched following the August 2025 summit in Washington, which saw the initialling of the peace treaty, which remains unsigned. The summit also resulted in an agreement to establish the Trump Route, a proposed transport link connecting Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhchivan through Armenian territory.

The latest reciprocal visits earlier this year involved crossing the land border through the demarcated section of Armenia–Azerbaijan between Tavush and Ghazakh. The border between the two countries has been closed since the First Nagorno-Karabakh conflict erupted as the Soviet Union collapsed. The crossing took place despite Azerbaijan continuing to restrict land border crossings, citing the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Tuesday, Boris Navasardyan of the Armenian Press Club, which is part of the initiative, told RFE/RL that the Armenian side was ‘in favour of such planned meetings taking place rather than being postponed’.

‘The Armenian side expected that, in this tense situation, it was necessary to meet, try to reach a mutual understanding, and agree on the atmosphere that we would like to see develop in the information environment and the public sphere. However, it seems that our counterparts from Azerbaijan do not consider it appropriate to engage at this stage’, Navasardyan said.

OC Media reached out to Armenian and Azerbaijani members of the initiative for further comment.

The postponement comes amid a dispute over the origins of monasteries in Nagorno-Karabakh. Tensions flared after Azerbaijani presidential aide Hikmat Hajiyev toured a group of foreign diplomats around Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas in mid-September, claiming the monasteries were Caucasian Albanian, and not Armenian — a theory widely dismissed as pseudohistoric.

Caucasian Albania was an ancient Christian state that existed in modern-day Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Members of the Peace Bridge Initiative Armenia, among others, said that such actions could deepen mistrust between the two societies and urged those involved in the peace process to avoid moves that could reinforce hostility.

The claims were condemned in Armenia, including by the Armenian Apostolic Church. Armenian authorities also rejected the assertions, arguing that the distortion of history was indicative of rhetoric that could undermine the peace process.

Despite the postponement of the civil society meeting, Director of Armenia’s Foreign Intelligence Service Kristinne Grigoryan attended the fourth Baku Security Forum in Azerbaijan on Tuesday, organised by the Azerbaijani State Security Service.

Grigoryan was the second Armenian high-ranking security official to attend the forum, after National Security Service head Andranik Simonyan participated in the 2025 edition.

It remains unclear whether Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers will meet in New York, where both are expected to attend the UN General Assembly.

‘National wealth’ vs ‘looting’

On Monday, Azerbaijan further accused Armenia of ‘looting’ the Dadivank monastery in Nagorno-Karabakh, known as Khudavang in Azerbaijani, following the end of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020, by ‘taking crosses, bells, and other elements belonging to the complex’.

The head of Azerbaijan’s cultural heritage agency, Sabina Hajiyeva, said that Azerbaijan filed a claim through Interpol’s Stolen Works of Art Database in October 2025, which she said could facilitate the return of the items if they are found in an Interpol member state.

Azerbaijan also announced on Tuesday the creation of a working group to study Caucasian Albanian heritage in Armenia.

‘I think any property belonging to the Armenian Apostolic Church that could have been brought to Armenia should have been brought to Armenia. I don’t see anything surprising here — it is part of our national wealth and should be in Armenia’, Eduard Aghajanyan of the ruling Civil Contract party told RFE/RL on Tuesday.

Aghajanyan said that the purpose of the Azerbaijani statements should be asked of the Azerbaijani side, but stressed that such accusations do not contribute to the atmosphere developing around peace.

The Armenian Apostolic Church has yet to issue a statement on the ‘looting’ accusations.