Conflict and Peace

A trilateral meeting between Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia was held in Tbilisi on April 17, with the participation of Georgian deputy foreign minister Lasha Darsalia and his counterparts, Azerbaijan’s Elnur Mammadov and Armenia’s Vahan Kostanyan, along with their delegations. The Foreign Minister of Georgia Maka Botchorishvili also took part in the talks.

The Antalya Diplomacy Forum, held on April 11-13 in the resort Turkish town of Antalya, presented a rare opportunity for trilateral engagement among the foreign ministers of the three South Caucasian countries. The candid exchange between Azerbaijan’s Jeyhun Bayramov, Armenia’s Ararat Mirzoyan, and Georgia’s Maka Bochorishvili, facilitated by Türkiye, offered a fragile yet meaningful sign that this fractured region may be inching toward regional peace and prosperity. Importantly, each minister underlined the significance of overcoming dividing lines in the South Caucasus and opening a new chapter for intraregional cooperation.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s special envoy, is travelling to Paris for talks with European allies on U.S. efforts to negotiate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. The State Department said Rubio and Witkoff would be in the French capital Thursday for the meetings. The officials will have “talks with European counterparts to advance President Trump’s goal to end the Russia-Ukraine war and stop the bloodshed,” department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement on Wednesday.

Armenia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Ararat Mirzoyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov had an exchange about the pending peace agreement between the two countries during a high level diplomatic forum in Antalya. The two debated the current political situation in the region during a panel discussion titled “Challenges and Opportunities for Regional Cooperation in the South Caucasus” held during the 4th Antalya Diplomacy Forum.

The Azerbaijan Mine Action Agency (ANAMA) released a statement last week detailing demining operations that have been carried out from March 31 to April 6. Over the course of the week, 2000 hectares were demined, clearing 107 anti-personnel mines, 13 anti-tank mines, and 870 unexploded ordnances.

The inaugural meeting of the two co-chairs of the thematic group on Peace and Security was hosted in The Hague by LINKS Europe in parallel with the Armenia-Azerbaijan Expert Political Dialogue Platform. During the meeting held on 2 April and chaired by LINKS Europe, Leonid Nersissian (Armenia) and Murad Muradov (Azerbaijan) discussed the work plan for the next nine months.

On Thursday 3 April the “National Mine Action Coordination Platform,” in collaboration with the UN Development Programme (UNDP), held its annual workshop in Armenia to mark the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action observed globally on 4 April.

A conference organised in The Hague by LINKS Europe Foundation brought together experts and activists from the South Caucasus, the European Union and beyond to discuss the current state of political transition in the region. The gathering gave particular attention to the European Union's evolving role in the region amidst rapidly changing domestic and regional dynamics as well as Türkiye's influence as a regional power.