Muhammad Irfan

Armenia and Azerbaijan's presidents pledged Saturday to resolve differences through peaceful means, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said after holding three-way talks between the leaders

Munich, (APP – UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 17th Feb, 2024) Armenia and Azerbaijan's presidents pledged Saturday to resolve differences through peaceful means, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said after holding three-way talks between the leaders.

At the meeting in Munich with Armenia's President Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan counterpart Ilham Aliyev, Scholz urged a rapid conclusion of peace talks, according to a statement issued by the chancellery.

"The chancellor praised pledges from both sides today, to resolve differences in opinion and open questions exclusively through peaceful means and without the use of force," added the statement.

No official statements have been issued from either side regarding the talks.

But the promises to avoid conflict would be a marked change in tone from Pashinyan's warning on Thursday that Azerbaijan was planning a "full-scale war".

On Tuesday, both sides also accused each other of opening fire on their volatile border, in a skirmish Armenia said left four of its soldiers dead.

Tensions between the two Caucasus neighbours have remained high since Baku re-captured the Armenian-populated region of Nagorno-Karabakh last September in a lightning military offensive.

Yerevan is concerned that Azerbaijan, emboldened by its success in Karabakh, could invade Armenian territory in order to create a land bridge to its exclave of Nakhchivan.

Aliyev, who won re-election this month, said in an inauguration speech Wednesday it was Armenia, not Azerbaijan, that had outstanding territorial claims.

Pashinyan and Aliyev previously said a peace agreement could have been signed by the end of last year, but internationally mediated peace talks have failed to yield a breakthrough.

In a bilateral meeting also in Munich, Pashinyan told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday morning that that had been a "new escalation" with Azerbaijan, in reference to the latest skirmish.

Aliyev is due to hold separate talks with Blinken later Saturday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.