Blinken says Armenia, Azerbaijan near 'dignified' deal

Armenia and Azerbaijan are on the brink of an agreement for a "dignified" peace, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday, as he brought the arch-foes' foreign ministers together for talks.

Years of diplomacy between the Caucasus rivals failed to reach a breakthrough, but negotiations have resumed in earnest with Armenia ceding ground after Azerbaijan last year won a decisive victory in seizing the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Blinken met Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Washington.

"Based on all the engagements that we've had, including in recent weeks, I believe that both countries are very close to being able to reach a final agreement, one that the United States would strongly, strongly support," Blinken said as he opened the talks.

Blinken said the two countries were working on an agreement "that is durable, one that is dignified and one that can open extraordinary possibilities for both countries, the region that they share and for their relationship with the United States."

America's top diplomat told the ministers that he wanted to see "what more the United States can do to be helpful in helping you reach an agreement."

The Caucasus rivals fought two wars -- in the 1990s and in 2020 -- over control of Nagorno-Karabakh, which had been predominantly populated by ethnic Armenians.

Baku in September recaptured the mountainous enclave in a one-day offensive that led to the exodus of its entire Armenian population -- more than 100,000 people.

Armenia had historically sought protection from Russia but following the Azerbaijani victory it has turned increasingly to the United States and European Union.

Last week, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said his country "needs a new constitution" because the current one "doesn't reflect citizens' vision of the relations with neighboring countries."

The statement came in response to Baku's demand that Yerevan remove from its constitution a reference to the country's 1991 declaration of independence from the Soviet Union, which proclaims Armenia's unification with Karabakh as a national goal.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said that reaching a peace agreement with Armenia is impossible until Armenia removes territorial claims to Karabakh from its constitution.

In May, Armenia returned to Azerbaijan four border villages that it had seized decades earlier, with Pashinyan saying the move was part of his efforts to secure peace with Azerbaijan.

Last month, Pashinyan said Yerevan was ready to sign a peace agreement with Baku "within a month."

Aliyev said last week that the text of the agreement could be finalised within a matter of several months.