ANKARA

 Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan met Saturday on the sidelines of Türkiye’s Antalya Diplomacy Forum.

“The parties discussed the current state of affairs in the normalization process following the finalization of the text of the Agreement on Peace and Establishment of Interstate Relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia,” Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“The Ministers expressed readiness to continue the dialogue,” the statement added.

Speaking at a panel, Bayramov told attendees that the historical normalization process between Azerbaijan and Armenia began after the fall 2020 Karabakh War. 

Last month, the two countries reached an agreement on the text of a peace treaty.

"In the next stage, this agreement will now be implemented. Once it is signed, the process will take its final form. We made a non-functioning process work. Necessary amendments will also be made to the Constitution of Armenia. In this way, land claims will be regulated," he said.

Bayramov also praised Türkiye's role in the region and emphasized the restoration of transportation links as a primary goal.

Echoing Bayramov, Mirzoyan affirmed that the peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan would bring prosperity to the region, promising to remove existing obstacles.

Türkiye, which hosts the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, has long supported its ally Azerbaijan’s efforts for normalization with Armenia.   

Peace agreement

Relations between the two former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Karabakh – a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan – and seven adjacent regions.

Most of the territory was liberated by Azerbaijan during a 44-day war in the fall of 2020, which ended after a Russian-brokered peace agreement that opened the door to normalization and demarcation talks.

In September 2023, Azerbaijan established full sovereignty in Karabakh after separatist forces in the region surrendered.

On March 13, Baku and Yerevan declared that they had reached a consensus on all 17 articles of a peace deal.