Armenia, Azerbaijan agree to improve relations
(VOVWORLD) - Armenia and Azerbaijan have reached an agreement to take confidence-building steps by releasing prisoners of war following their first direct negotiations with no mediators involved, according to a joint statement released on Thursday.
 The talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Tehran, Iran, on October 23, 2023. (Photo: AFP/ VNA) |
Under the agreement, Azerbaijan will release 32 Armenian servicemen and Armenia will free two Azerbaijani soldiers.
The two countries have been locked in a decades-long conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, which is situated in Azerbaijan’s territory but is mostly inhabited by Armenian natives.
In a joint statement issued late Thursday night, the two sides said they had agreed to seize “a historic chance to achieve a long-awaited peace in the region” and hoped to sign a peace treaty before the end of the year.