3/28/2024 Armenia (International Christian Concern) – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg concluded his official visit to the South Caucasus region by meeting with President Vahagn Khachaturyan and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
Secretary Stoltenberg previously visited Georgia and Azerbaijan, highlighting the collaboration between NATO and the Caucasian states and the implications for regional security. Stoltenberg affirmed NATO support for Georgian sovereignty and territorial integrity, calling on Russia to revoke its recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states. A group of states, including Russia and Syria, recognized the territories as independent following the 2008 Russo-Georgian War, and Syria recognized the territories as independent following the 2008 Russo-Georgian War.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated during the recent press conference with Stoltenberg that negotiations with Armenia were approaching a settlement. A report from International Christian Concern covered the details and context of the remarks delivered after the meeting between the officials.
Amid the outcome of the conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh breakaway region, Artsakh, Stoltenberg stated that relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan affect “Euro-Atlantic security as we face a more dangerous world.” He urged both states to “reach an agreement paving the way for normalization of relations and a durable peace for your people,” adding that “NATO supports Armenian sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
During the press conference in Yerevan, Armenia’s capital, Prime Minister Pashinyan addressed the conflict with Azerbaijan by invoking the Alma-Ata Protocols, which established the borders of states after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Pashinyan urged NATO and the international community to support “the peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan based on known and mutually agreed upon principles, as well as the unequivocal rejection of the policy of coercion and threats.
This comes as Pashinyan traveled to the Nuclear Energy Summit in Brussels on March 21, where he met with multiple foreign officials, including French President Emmanuel Macron.
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