Hopes for facilitating dialogue between Azerbaijan and Armenia were dashed once again after a one-on-one meeting between the South Caucasus rivals’ leaders could not be held at the European Political Community (EPC) summit in the U.K.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan were both present at the EPC summit in Oxfordshire.
The gathering aimed to provide an informal environment conducive to interaction between the two leaders, with hopes of advancing the peace agenda.
Despite efforts by the U.K. to mediate and create an informal setting for dialogue, the anticipated meeting between Aliyev and Pashinyan did not take place.
A senior British government official told Anadolu Agency (AA) that the U.K. is not attempting to mediate the ongoing dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Instead, the official added, the focus has been on facilitating an environment conducive to dialogue, consistent with the approach taken in previous EPC meetings.
As AA understands, the aim was to provide an informal setting where leaders could interact not only with each other but also with other international figures.
The official suggested that the U.K., as the host, had taken its responsibilities seriously, striving to bring the conflicting parties closer together.
Over time, there was progress and in the lead-up to this summit there were positive signs suggesting the possibility of a meeting, but to no avail, according to the official.
The Caucasus rivals fought two wars, in the 1990s and 2020, over control of Azerbaijan's Karabakh region. Last autumn, Baku recaptured the mountainous enclave in a one-day offensive. Years of internationally mediated peace talks between Baku and Yerevan have failed to produce a breakthrough, but the two countries' leaders said recently that a comprehensive peace deal is within reach.
Ictimai Television, a public television channel in Azerbaijan, reported that according to Hikmat Hajiyev, adviser to the Azerbaijani president, Armenia refused to attend the proposed meeting.
"Armenia's refusal to attend the meeting reflects its intention to withdraw from dialogue and advance the peace agenda," he was quoted as saying.
Hajiyev recalled the format of the previous meeting between the two leaders at the Munich Security Conference, which began with the presence of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and continued bilaterally.
Contradicting the claims, Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ani Badalyan said it was the Azerbaijani side that rejected the proposal.
"The Armenian side also reiterates its proposal to intensify the negotiations on the highest levels and to reach the signing of the peace treaty within one month," the spokesperson added.
Earlier this month, Pashinyan said his country "needs a new constitution" because the current one "doesn't reflect citizens' vision of the relations with neighboring countries."
The statement came in response to Baku's demand that Yerevan remove from its constitution a reference to the country's 1991 declaration of independence from the Soviet Union, which proclaims Armenia's unification with Karabakh as a national goal.
Aliyev has said that reaching a peace agreement with Armenia is impossible until Armenia removes territorial claims to Karabakh from its Constitution.
In May, Armenia returned to Azerbaijan four border villages that it had occupied decades earlier, with Pashinyan saying the move was part of his efforts to secure peace with Azerbaijan.
Last month, Pashinyan said Yerevan was ready to sign a peace agreement with Baku "within a month." Aliyev said last week that the text of the agreement could be finalized within a matter of several months.
Meanwhile, Russia, traditionally Armenia’s closest regional ally, warmed Yerevan against actions that risk destabilizing the wider South Caucasus region.
At her regular press briefing, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that Armenia's closer relations with the U.S.-led alliance caused "not just regret, but also concern for Armenia's future."
She added that Yerevan's shift toward the West risked "destabilizing" the South Caucasus, a region in which Russia has traditionally exerted major influence.
Yerevan has stoked warmer ties with the NATO alliance in recent years as its ties with Moscow have become more strained.
Armenian officials blame Russia for failing to protect it from Azerbaijan, which retook the former breakaway region of Karabakh in September 2023.
Zakharova said that U.S.-Armenian military exercises, set to conclude on July 24, were also a cause for alarm, especially after Yerevan froze its participation in the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) earlier this year.
