US sees peace within reach for Armenia and Azerbaijan

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken believes that Armenia and Azerbaijan are "within reach" of a peace deal after the US hosted after four days of talks at a State Department facility near Washington.

The countries have fought two wars in the past 30 years over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is recognized as part of Azerbaijan but populated mainly by Armenians and home to a separatist movement.

"The two sides have discussed some very tough issues over the last few days, and they've made tangible progress on a durable peace agreement," Blinken said on Thursday.

"I hope that they see, and I believe that they do, as I do, that there is an agreement within sight, within reach," he added.

What Armenia and Azerbaijan said about a peace deal

On Thursday, each side released identical statements about progress toward a peace deal.

"The ministers and their teams advanced mutual understanding on some articles of the draft bilateral Agreement on Peace and Establishment of Interstate Relations," the statements said.

However, they both acknowledged that "the positions on some key issues remain divergent."

The second war ended in 2020 after Russia brokered a peace deal, but clashes have continued.

Azerbaijan last week set up a checkpoint in the Lachin Corridor, which is the only road link between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, in a move that Yerevan views as a violation of the 2020 deal. Border clashes in March also left five people dead.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Kremlin said any efforts to resolve the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan were welcome, but that the basis of any long-term solution should be the 2020 Russian-brokered peace agreement.

zc/rc (AP, Reuters, AFP)