BRUSSELS, October 3. /TASS/. European Council President Charles Michel continues efforts to set up a meeting between the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan on the sidelines of the third European Political Community Summit in Granada, Spain, a senior EU official told reporters.
When asked if the EU would be able to arrange such a meeting, he said that it was too early to talk about it and things would become clearer by Wednesday’s night.
According to the official, the European Union is trying to organize a two-plus-three meeting that would involve Armenia, Azerbaijan, France, Germany and the European Council in order to achieve progress in normalizing relations between Baku and Yerevan despite a rather serious situation on the ground.
On September 19, tensions flared up again in Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku announced the start of a military operation. Yerevan, in turn, described what was happening as "an act of large-scale aggression." Russia called on the parties to end the bloodshed and return to efforts to resolve the issue diplomatically. On September 20, a ceasefire agreement was reached through the mediation of Russia’s peacekeeping mission. Azerbaijani officials and representatives of Karabakh Armenians met in the Azerbaijani city of Yevlakh on September 21 to discuss reintegration issues.
President of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh Samvel Shahramanyan signed a decree on September 28 to dissolve the unrecognized state from January 1, 2024. Its people were urged to consider the terms of reintegration in Azerbaijan, which were offered by Baku, and stay put if they choose to do so.
According to Yerevan, a total of 100,520 internally displaced persons have relocated to Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh, whose population stood at about 120,000 until recently.