Yerevan (dpa) – Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to return to the negotiating table in order to find a political solution to a conflict which has been going on for more than 30 years. The mediation efforts of EU Council President Charles Michel “are a bridge that have the potential to map out the fastest way to peace,” said the Green politician on Friday after a meeting with her Armenian colleague Ararat Mirsojan in the capital Yerevan. “That’s why it’s so important for a new round of negotiations to take place as soon as possible,” she added.
Nagorno-Karabakh is located on Azerbaijani territory but was mainly inhabited by Armenians. The region broke away from Baku in a bloody civil war in the 1990s with the help of Yerevan. The Azerbaijani army forced the surrender of the local army in Nagorno-Karabakh on 19 September, and more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians have since fled the region.
Baerbock said that Germany had provided 22 million euros in humanitarian aid since 2021. “Today the Federal Republic of Germany is providing another 9.3 million euros for humanitarian aid.” This would enable care to be provided for those refugees who were most in need of help, said Baerbock. “It will give people hope and restore some degree of normality for them.”
Another aim that Baerbock is pursuing in Yerevan and Baku is to make both countries offers for closer cooperation in areas such as business and science, thereby providing alternatives to collaborating with Russia and Iran, for example. Baerbock said cooperation would be expanded in the areas of rule of law, cultural exchange , business and energy so as to strengthen the countries’ resilience.
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