Scholz: Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed not to use violence to resolve their differences

Armenia and Azerbaijan are committed to resolving their differences “peacefully and without resorting to violence,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Saturday after a meeting with the leaders of the two rival Caucasian countries. Olaf Scholz “clearly welcomed the commitment made today by both sides to resolve existing differences of opinion and remaining issues by peaceful means only and without resorting to violence,” said a statement from the cabinet at the end of this meeting, on the sidelines of the Security Conference of Munich, and the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev and the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pachini.

The two have not been informed about the talks they are having in Munich where this annual meeting is the occasion for many diplomatic talks about the current conflicts. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has met with Nikol Pashinian in Munich, who is concerned about the “new phase of tension between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” according to a US State Department report. A shootout at the border Armenia and Azerbaijan exchanged fire on Tuesday on the border between the two countries, near Nerkin Hand (southeastern Armenia), an incident that resulted in the death of four Armenian soldiers, according to Yerevan.

Meanwhile, Nikol Pashinian accused Azerbaijan on Thursday of seeking “total war” with Armenia. President Aliev, for his part, re-elected for a 5th term, announced on Wednesday in his inauguration speech that he no longer wants international mediation in the Caucasus issues. Border disputes have caused the two countries to be at war for years. In September 2023, the Azerbaijani army, through a major offensive, took full control of Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous region that had been lost since the fall of the USSR, causing tens of thousands of residents to flee to Armenia. Since this victory, Yerevan suspects that Azerbaijan has other intentions to seize other territories against Armenia.