Turkish, Azerbaijani leaders discuss recent Brussels meeting with Armenia

By Faruk Zorlu

ANKARA (AA) - In a phone call, the presidents of Turkiye and Azerbaijan discussed the outcome of a recent meeting in Brussels between the Azerbaijani president, Armenian premier, and EU Council head.

Turkiye's Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Azerbaijan's Ilham Aliyev spoke about the issues discussed at the three-way meeting, in which Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, along with European Council President Charles Michel, reached an agreement.

The two leaders also evaluated future steps to protect Azerbaijan's interests and establish lasting peace in the region.

Last December, around a year after the Azerbaijan and Armenia ended a 44-day war over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, Michel met separately with both leaders and then hosted them together at a dinner in Brussels.

Relations between the two former Soviet countries have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Upper Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

New clashes erupted in September 2020, and the 44-day conflict saw Azerbaijan liberate several cities and over 300 settlements and villages that were occupied by Armenia for almost 30 years.

A tripartite agreement was brokered by Russia to bring an end to the war in November 2020.