YEREVAN — The United States is ready to take “bold initiatives” to help Armenia and Azerbaijan reach a peace deal, President Joe Biden said in a letter to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan publicized on Tuesday.
Michael Carpenter, Biden’s a special assistant and a senior official at the U.S. National Security Council, handed the letter to Pashinyan during a meeting in Yerevan held the day after his talks in Baku with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
The letter specifically states:
I am pleased to see that your nation and Azerbaijan have made steady progress towards finalizing a peace agreement that would normalize relations between your two countries. I want to assure you that the United States stands ready to support a durable and dignified peace agreement that would finally put to rest centuries of conflict
A peace agreement that safeguards Armenia’s unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity would not only provide security and stability for the Armenian people. It would transform the entire South Caucasus region. As you know, finalizing the remaining articles of the peace agreement will require persistence, ingenuity, and compromise. But putting patriotism above politics, you have courageously and consistently chosen the path of peace – and I encourage you to finalize an agreement this year.
As you do, my administration is prepared to take bold initiatives that would help pave the way for peace. I have asked my Senior Director for Europe, Michael Carpenter to brief you on some of the steps we would be willing to take and get your feedback on discussions with Azerbaijan.
As we were reminded last month at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, now is the moment to recommit to the United Nations Charter and its fundamental principles of peace. A brighter future is within reach, and I look forward to working with you to seize it.”
