Peace Effort Between Armenia and Azerbaijan Tightens Over Population Return Demands

Overview

• On November 4, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said returning Armenians to Nagorno-Karabakh would be dangerous for peace with Azerbaijan.
• A day earlier, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said the return of Azerbaijanis to present-day Armenia should not alarm Armenians or the Armenian state.
• Foreign ministers parafed an agreed peace text in early August after a Washington meeting involving Pashinyan, U.S. President Donald Trump, and Aliyev.
• The question of any mass return of Azerbaijanis to Armenia remains unresolved within the negotiations.
• The dispute unfolds after Azerbaijan’s September 2023 operation in Karabakh, the declared self-dissolution of local authorities, and the departure of more than 100,000 people to Armenia.