Leaders Of Azerbaijan, Armenia Meet In Brussels To Discuss Nagorno-Karabakh

(RFE/RL) -- The leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia met in Brussels to discuss a peace plan for Nagorno-Karabakh, even as opponents in Yerevan accuse Prime Minister Nicol Pashinian of what they say are unacceptable concessions made during negotiations with Baku over the disputed region.

European Council President Charles Michel on May 22 held bilateral talks with both Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev before a trilateral meeting in which the Karabakh situation was discussed.

Azerbaijan said in a statement that Aliyev told Michel "that Azerbaijan had laid out five principles based on international law for the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and for the signing of a peace agreement."

Pashinian has publicly stated that the elements are acceptable to Yerevan in principle, fueling Armenian opposition claims that he is ready to recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh.

In Yerevan, Armenian police have detained hundreds of protesters during opposition-led demonstrations seeking to force Pashinian from office.

Pashinian has faced heavy criticism since he and Aliyev agreed last month in Brussels to begin drafting a peace treaty to resolve the conflict and set up a joint commission on demarcating their common border.

Armenia lost control over parts of the breakaway region in a 2020 war that ended with a Russian-brokered cease-fire that an estimated 2,000 Russian troops have been deployed to monitor.

Nagorno-Karabakh, which had been under ethnic Armenian control for nearly three decades, is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.

Pashinian, who said he had agreed to the 2020 cease-fire to avoid further losses, said he would not sign any peace deal with Azerbaijan without consulting ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.