Brussels Meeting Between Pashinyan and Aliyev Scheduled for End of October Gets Canceled

YEREVAN — A meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders, expected to take place in Brussels in late October will not take place, EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia Toivo Klaar said.

“The previously announced) meeting between European Council President Charles Michel, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the end of October will not take place,” said Klaar, who is remotely participating in a forum in Yerevan. The EU special envoy cited lack of time as the reason, Azatutyun Radio reported.

“Our goal is for the Armenians of Karabakh to return to their homes. Noting the importance of the meeting in Granada, in which Aliyev did not participate, we are now trying to organize a Pashinyan-Aliyev meeting in Brussels. Despite the slow process, we believe that the result will be the signing of the document,” Klaar said, without specifying possible new dates.

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said, meanwhile, that the two leaders will not meet in the coming days because Aliyev “did not find the time” to fly to Brussels.

“I hope that the problem was indeed to do with concrete dates and that a new date for the meeting will be agreed upon soon,” he said. “Armenia is ready to participate in that meeting. We remain committed to our peace agenda.”

“We have received no new proposals yet regarding [meeting] dates,” Mirzoyan added during a news conference.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan assumed that the meeting  expected to take place in Brussels will not take place as the President of Azerbaijan has not confirmed his participation.

”Such a meeting is planned. But now the fact is that it will not happen in October. I suppose the reason is that the President of Azerbaijan has not confirmed his participation in the meeting. But there are also working details, regarding which we will try to get clarifications from the European Union partners in the coming days and understand further actions,” Pashinyan said during the question-and-answer session with members of the government in the National Assembly.