It’s a very positive sign that following Secretary Blinken’s meeting with his two counterparts – his Armenian and his Azerbaijani counterparts Ararat Mirzoyan and Jeyhun Bayramov – the two countries issued a joint statement, US State Secretary spokesperson Ned Price stated. He added that the two countries could agree to not only issue a joint statement but to agree on the substance behind it.
“In the meeting, the foreign ministers agreed to expediate their negotiations and to organize another meeting in the coming weeks. They expressed their appreciation to Secretary Blinken, to the U.S. side for organizing the discussions yesterday. I should note that Secretary Blinken was involved in the discussions yesterday, but there were opportunities through hout the course of the day for the two sides to meet and to attempt to bridge their differences, in some cases without the United States as an active participant. We remain committed to promoting a peaceful future for the South Caucasus region. We believe that continued direct dialogue is key to resolving issues and to reaching a lasting peace,” Price stated.
“The United States played the role of facilitator, played the role of mediator, but of course we weren’t dictating the terms. This is not an agreement that the United States is attempting to or seeking to – or even can – impose on the two sides. What we are doing is trying to create a space and an opportunity for the two sides to come together, to identify their differences – of which there are many – and to attempt to bridge them.
And I think there was – yesterday was positive in that the two sides met, they surfaced many of their areas of disagreement. At the end of the day, they were able to agree on a joint statement. They were able to agree to continue meeting and engaging in direct dialogue and diplomacy in the weeks that follow. That, to us, is quite important.
But it is not for us to prescribe what this lasting comprehensive peace between the two countries might look like. We are not presenting them with a document that is ready to sign. We are doing everything we can to help enable the diplomacy that they themselves will need to undertake,” Price said.
