Azerbaijan ready for peace talks with Armenia amid new tensions

Baku responds to Yerevan’s name for negotiation of a complete peace treaty amid new tensions over the long-contested enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

In 2020, Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a battle over Nagorno-Karabakh which killed greater than 6,500 individuals [File: Roman Ismayilov/EPA]

Azerbaijan has mentioned it's prepared for peace talks with Armenia, after Yerevan urged Baku to barter a complete peace treaty amid new tensions over the long-contested enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

“If Armenia is critical a couple of peace settlement, then concrete steps should be made. We repeat that Azerbaijan is prepared for this,” the international ministry in Baku mentioned in an announcement on Tuesday.

The ministry mentioned Azerbaijan had proposed that the 2 international locations maintain peace talks a 12 months in the past.

In 2020, Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a battle over Nagorno-Karabakh which killed greater than 6,500 individuals.

A ceasefire deal brokered by Russian President Vladimir Putin noticed Armenia cede swaths of territory to Azerbaijan and Moscow deploy a peacekeeping contingent to the mountainous area.

Final week, Yerevan and Moscow accused Baku of violating a ceasefire within the Russian contingent’s zone of accountability.

They accused Azerbaijan’s forces of capturing the village of Farukh within the Askeran area of Karabakh, the place three Armenian troopers have been killed in a shoot-out final week.

A service member of the Russian peacekeeping troops stands subsequent to a tank close to the border with Armenia within the area of Nagorno-Karabakh [File: Francesco Brembati/Reuters]

Baku rejected the accusation, insisting the world was a part of its internationally-recognised territory.

On Monday, Armenia’s safety council accused Azerbaijan of “making ready the bottom for contemporary provocations and an offensive on Nagorno-Karabakh”. It urged Baku to “instantly begin talks on a complete peace treaty”.

Armenia additionally demanded an investigation into the Russian peacekeeping contingent’s actions throughout Azerbaijan’s “incursion” and urged the Russian forces to take “concrete steps” to diffuse tensions.

A big flare-up in Nagorno-Karabakh may pose a problem for Moscow, at a time when tens of 1000's of Russian troops are engaged in Ukraine.

Moscow has deployed about 2,000 peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh and a land hall linking it with Armenia.

Ethnic Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. The following battle killed about 30,000 individuals.