On 8 October, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev traveled to Tbilisi to meet with his Georgian counterpart, Irakli Garibashvili. The unannounced meeting concerned regional projects such as a new Black Sea port in Anaklia and the Middle Corridor that will stretch from China to Europe via Central Asia and the South Caucasus. Both leaders expressed a desire to bring peace to their shared but troubled region while Aliyev surprised many by offering to “immediately” launch talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Georgia.

It was unclear what Aliyev meant by this, though he did refer to bilateral and trilateral talks, the latter presumably involving Georgia. It was also unclear whether Aliyev was referring to a meeting of the leaders, though he did arguably imply such talks will be at various official levels and didn’t make any direct reference to meeting face-to-face with Pashinyan. “Baku does not see the need to discuss the problems of the region with countries far from the region,” Aliev proclaimed. “Baku believes that these issues can be discussed and resolved in a regional framework.”

 

Nonetheless, in a televised interview broadcast on Armenian Public TV two days later, it appeared that the Armenian Prime Minister dismissed the invitation or at least laid down his own terms.

 

“When Azerbaijan now offers another platform, we must understand that we are not against other dialogues, but we are against the revisionism of principles already adopted at other meetings,” he said before then being asked about an already existing regional platform – the 3+3 that seeks to bring Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia together in a format with the regional powers of Iran, Russia, and Turkiye. Pashinyan also said that there was an agreement to hold the next 3+3 in Iran.

 

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Regional gatherings and structures should not be ignored in order to foster closer regional cooperation and communication without external interference. Moreover, while geopolitics rages after Ukraine and now Gaza, and with the US about to be further distracted by its own elections, it is time to support this new format in case others break down or are obstructed in the future.

 

There are already encouraging signs. At the Fourth International Silk Road Forum to be held in Tbilisi on 26-27 October, both Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani Prime Minister Ali Asadov will make opening addresses in the official opening ceremony led by their Georgian counterpart, Irakli Garibashvili. Though this is not exactly the bilateral and trilateral meetings Aliyev might have been referring to, this unprecedented development could well be a first step.

 

After all, the future of the region does indeed lie in the region, and while such developments should be both applauded and encouraged – with or without a peace agreement – it is imperative that they are not viewed as a way to disrupt any progress made through already established and functioning formats to resolve the three decades-long conflict. They will anyway need external support and it should be remembered that it is just as important that they are not isolated from the wider international context too.

 

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 The full opinion piece can be read here.