Blinken brought Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bairamov together in a New York hotel on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly. It was the first face-to-face meeting of foreign ministers since two days of shelling last week by both sides that killed more than 200 soldiers. Only Blinken spoke at the start of the meeting, during which the Armenian and Azerbaijani delegations sat forlornly on opposite sides, separated by American officials. “We are encouraged by the fact that the fighting has stopped and there has been no” resumption of bombing, said Blinken, who has spoken several times with the leaders of both countries. “Strong, sustainable diplomatic engagement is the best path forward for all,” he said. “There is a path to a lasting peace that resolves differences.” The meeting came just a day after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Armenia and condemned the Azeri attacks, prompting complaints from Baku. Speaking ahead of Monday’s meeting, Bairamov said his country was “satisfied with the level of relations” with the US and said his direct talks with Mirzoyan were not unusual. “We are always open for meetings,” he said. The two Caucasus countries have been locked in a decades-long conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a region that lies inside Azerbaijan but has long been under the control of Yerevan-backed Armenian forces since a separatist war ended in 1994. During a six-week war in 2020, Azerbaijan regained large swaths of Nagorno-Karabakh and neighboring territories held by Armenian forces. More than 6,700 people were killed in these battles. Armenia and Azerbaijan have blamed each other for launching last week’s bombing.
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