Pashinian’s office said French President Emmanuel Macron and the European Union’s top official, Charles Michel, will join him for the “quadripartite meeting” with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
Pashinian’s first-ever face-to-face talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will take place “on the same day,” the office said in a statement confirming his participation in the summit slated for October 6-7.
Pashinian’s most recent meeting with Aliyev was hosted by Michel in Brussels on August 31. The two leaders appeared to have failed to bridge their differences on an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty.
Two weeks later, heavy fighting broke out at various sections of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Armenia accused Azerbaijan of trying to clinch far-reaching Armenian concessions through military aggression.
Speaking in the Armenian parliament later on Wednesday, Pashinian sounded rather optimistic about peace prospects. He said that a series of Western-mediated Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations held since the recent fighting have created “some room for us to move forward” towards the peace treaty sought by Baku.
“The news is that as a result of the recent negotiations I see a path to follow,” he told pro-government lawmakers.
In that context, Pashinian reaffirmed his readiness to sign a document calling for mutual recognition of each other’s territorial integrity. He did not deny that this would mean upholding Azerbaijani sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh. He claimed that former President Robert Kocharian’s administration had already recognized Karabakh as an integral part of Azerbaijan in 1999.
Pashinian made similar comments in a televised interview aired last Friday. He said that there should be “no reference to the Karabakh issue in the peace treaty.”
Those remarks prompted serious concern from Karabakh’s leadership and main political factions. In a joint statement issued on Monday, they spoke out against any peace deal that would preclude “international recognition of the Artsakh people's right to self-determination.” They also said that Armenia must continue to “represent and protect the rights and interests” of the Karabakh Armenians on the international stage.
Armenia’s leading opposition alliance headed by Kocharian praised the Karabakh leaders’ stance.
A statement released by the Hayastan alliance’s parliamentary group shortly before Pashinian addressed the parliament accused the prime minister of planning “new deadly concessions” to Azerbaijan. It charged that Pashinian has lost his domestic legitimacy because of the “utter failure” of his foreign, security and Karabakh policies.
Earlier in the day, Aliyev warned Yerevan against dragging out talks on the treaty.
“If that continues, then we will have no peace. If this is a choice of Armenia, that means they will make another serious mistake,” he said, implicitly threatening further military action.