Armenia preferred negotiations with Azerbaijan through the mediation of the West
A format for meetings between the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan has been formed in Washington. This gives legitimacy to peace negotiations, said Sarkis Khandanyan, head of the Armenian Parliament's Standing Committee on Foreign Relations.
In addition, on January 8, Armenian Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan, during a meeting in Yerevan with the US State Department's chief adviser for negotiations in the Caucasus, Louis Bono, said that Armenia had agreed to continue negotiations in a trilateral format in Washington. Previously, Bono visited the region on December 7, 2023 and held a meeting with Armenian Foreign Minister Mirzoyan. The latter announced his readiness to negotiate with his Azerbaijani counterpart Bayramov in Washington.
On December 6, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that the US authorities had “reduced” relations with Baku. He stressed that if Washington "says that the relationship will remain as it was before... then we can restore the Washington process." According to him, if this does not happen, only Brussels and Moscow will remain to mediate the peace process between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
