South Caucasus

Depending on whom you ask, last week’s meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Abu Dhabi was either a historic development or simply another routine step in the still-fragile peace process. In an interview with Slovak media prior to the talks last week, Azerbaijani presidential advisor Hikmet Hajiyev even claimed the conflict between the sides is now over. Both sides believed that they were now the closest to formalising a peace treaty than at any time before.

The visit of the Syrian leader, Ahmed al Sharaa to Baku on 12 July was short but highly significant. The discussions between al Sharaa and president Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan were substantive and covered a number of areas, including Syria's complicated relationship with Israel, and Syria's energy crises. Talks between Syria and the Azerbaijani oil and gas company SOCAR have been on-going to for several months, and during al Sharaa's visit a Memorandum of Understanding was signed, formalising the relationship. Azerbaijan is reported to be going to supply Syria with gas via Turkiye. During the discussions the possibility of using the facilities of the Turkish State energy company, Botas, was also discussed, and the plan is to use the newly constructed Kilis-Azaz-al Bab-Aleppo pipeline. According to various Syrian, Israeli and Azerbaijani sources a meeting also took place in Baku on 12 July between Syrian and Israeli officials regarding possible normalisation of relations