Armenia’s Pashinyan warns of war with Azerbaijan unless peace treaty signed

TBILISI (Reuters) – Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has warned that a new war with Azerbaijan is highly probable if the two countries fail to reach a peace treaty. In an interview with the French AFP news agency, Pashinyan expressed the importance of a signed and ratified peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan to avoid further conflict.

Pashinyan was quoted as saying, “So long as a peace treaty has not been signed and such a treaty has not been ratified by the parliaments of the two countries, of course, a (new) war (with Azerbaijan) is very likely.”

In 2020, during the war over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia suffered a significant defeat as Armenian-backed separatists lost considerable amounts of territory in and around the enclave. Nagorno-Karabakh, internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, is primarily inhabited by ethnic Armenians and broke away from Azerbaijan’s control during a conflict in the 1990s.

Efforts have been made by both Armenia and Azerbaijan to achieve a lasting peace deal in recent months; however, there have been sporadic border clashes, and major breakthroughs have yet to be reached in the talks.

Armenia and the separatist authorities in Karabakh have accused Azerbaijan of blockading the territory since December, placing a border post on the only road connecting the region to Armenia and impeding most traffic.

The situation in the region remains tense as the possibility of a renewed conflict continues to loom. International observers and mediators are calling for a swift resolution and a comprehensive peace treaty to address the ongoing tensions and prevent any further bloodshed.

Reporting by Felix Light; Editing by Kevin Liffey