Antalya (TDI): On the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, under the shadow of a slow progressing peace process, the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia discussed normalization of ties between their countries.
FM of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov and his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan met on April 12 – the second day of the Forum. On this same day, the Antalya Diplomacy Forum hosted the first-ever direct trilateral dialogue between Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia.
Press release on the meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan and Armenia, held in Antalya, Türkiye
On 12 April 2025 Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan met in Antalya on the… pic.twitter.com/TE2LiQ6CQz
— MFA Azerbaijan 🇦🇿 (@AzerbaijanMFA) April 12, 2025
The panel discussion was titled “Challenges and Opportunities for Regional Cooperation in the South Caucasus,” and it was moderated by Nigar Göksel, Türkiye/Cyprus Director of the International Crisis Group along with TRT World’s journalist Auskar Surbakti.
As peace process in the South Caucasus and especially between Armenia and Azerbaijan remains fragile, the panel discussion was an ice-breaker.
The text of the peace pact called the Agreement on Peace and the Establishment of Interstate Relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia has recently been finalized, after Baku assumed full control of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region in an intense fight in 2023.
Read More: Armenia, Azerbaijan Finalize Peace Treaty Terms
Ethnic Armenians were forced to flee the region for safety and visuals of a mass movement of people circulated across the world. Both countries have fought wars over this region and have stayed in a state of conflict for over four decades.
In the meeting on the sidelines of the Antalya Forum, FMs of both countries expressed readiness for dialogue and discussed the current status of normalization of ties.
Since Russia brokered peace deal between the two countries in October 2020, both Armenia and Azerbaijan have remained committed to give peace a chance and remain within their respective territories, without trespassing.
Nuzhat Rana is an Associate Editor at The Diplomatic Insight.
