Azerbaijan and Armenia Advance Peace Dialogue in Abu Dhabi, Key Hurdles Remain

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan

ABU DHABI, UAE – In a significant step towards normalizing relations, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan concluded a five-hour, "results-oriented" meeting in Abu Dhabi on July 10. This marked their longest one-on-one engagement to date, focusing on critical aspects of a potential peace agreement, including border delimitation, the opening of the Zangezur corridor, and the initialing of a peace treaty. While both sides hailed the discussions as constructive and agreed to continue high-level and working group talks, persistent disagreements over constitutional clauses and the future of international mediation continue to challenge the path to a final accord.

The meeting, held in the neutral territory of the United Arab Emirates, underscored a mutual commitment to direct bilateral negotiations as the most effective format for resolving outstanding issues. This comes after both Baku and Yerevan announced in March that they had agreed on the text of a peace agreement, a development that had sparked optimism for an imminent resolution to decades of conflict. However, despite this agreement on the text, the final peace treaty remains unsigned, primarily due to differing preconditions set by the two nations.

The historical context of the conflict, rooted in the Karabakh issue which escalated in the 1980s, led to significant clashes. In the early 1990s, Azerbaijan's Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts were occupied. Azerbaijan subsequently restored its sovereignty over these territories following the 44-day war in 2020 and a one-day military operation in 2023. Since then, various formats of negotiations have taken place, but a comprehensive peace agreement has remained elusive. The leaders' previous direct meeting occurred on May 16 in Tirana, Albania, during the 6th summit of the European Political Community.