Armenia, Azerbaijan border commission meeting set for November
Armenian and Azerbaijani officials will hold talks under the Border Delimitation and Border Security Commission in Brussels next month, Armenpress reported.
The next session of the commission will take place during the first week of November, Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan’s office told the news agency on Monday.
During the Geneva talks held between Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ceyhun Bayramov earlier this month, Azerbaijan has proposed holding the next meeting of the bilateral commission on delimitation in October, this month, instead of November as previously agreed.
Last month, the Azerbaijan – Armenia border has seen the most violent confrontation since the Second Nagorno-Karabakh war, after Azerbaijani side violated the ceasefire agreement reached between the sides in November 2020.
Armenia accused Azerbaijan for shelling Armenian positions, using large-caliber weapons, artillery, missile systems, and UAVs and occupying ten square kilometers of Armenian sovereign territory. Azerbaijan on the other hand, blamed Armenian armed forces of a series of “large-scale provocations” and said it has taken “retaliatory” measures.
The two Caucasian countries embroiled in a six weeks of war in autumn 2020 over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. The conflict ended with a truce agreement brokered by Russia in November 2020. Turkey backed Azerbaijan during the war, providing military support.
In Geneva meeting, Mirzoyan reiterated the Armenian side’s call on the withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops from the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia and the immediate release of all Armenian prisoners of war.
Highlighting the importance of introducing an international mechanisms for border situation control, Armenian Foreign Ministry said that “the war crimes committed by the Azerbaijani armed forces should receive a clear assessment by international bodies, and the criminals should be brought to justice.”
According to Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry statement, Bayramov emphasized the “Importance of full withdrawal of the Armenian armed units from the territories of Azerbaijan, the opening of transport and communication lines within the short period based on the preliminary agreements reached in the trilateral commission under the leadership of the deputy prime ministers, the need to make progress in the field of delimitation, in accordance with the trilateral statements signed by the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russian Federation, as well as the agreements reached between the leaders”.