Pashinyan Scheduled to Meet with Erdogan and Aliyev in Prague

YEREVAN — Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced on Wednesday that he will hold later this week separate talks with the presidents of Azerbaijan and Turkey on the sidelines of a European summit in Prague.

Pashinyan’s office said French President Emmanuel Macron and the European Union’s top official, Charles Michel, will join him for the “quadripartite meeting” with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

Pashinyan’s first-ever face-to-face talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will take place “on the same day,” the office said in a statement confirming his participation in the summit slated for October 6-7.

Pashinyan’s most recent meeting with Aliyev was hosted by Michel in Brussels on August 31. The two leaders appeared to have failed to bridge their differences on an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty.

Two weeks later, heavy fighting broke out at various sections of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Armenia accused Azerbaijan of trying to clinch far-reaching Armenian concessions through military aggression.

Speaking in the Armenian parliament later on Wednesday, Pashinyan sounded rather optimistic about peace prospects. He said that a series of Western-mediated Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations held since the recent fighting have created “some room for us to move forward” towards the peace treaty sought by Baku.

“The news is that as a result of the recent negotiations I see a path to follow,” he told  lawmakers.