Armenian-Azerbaijani peace dialogue reaches "normalization" milestone as delegation crosses delimited border.

“As you are already aware, yesterday morning a group of 20 representatives from Armenian expert circles, civil society, and the media crossed the Azerbaijani border through the delimited and demarcated section. As my colleague mentioned, this is a significant symbolic step in itself, News.Az reports, citing AZERTAC.

It confirms how real peace is and how close we are to implementing the peace agenda agreed upon in Washington and, prior to that, during our leaders' meeting in Abu Dhabi,” Areg Kochinyan, coordinator of the “Bridge of Peace” initiative and president of the Armenian Council, said during a press conference held as part of a bilateral round table in Gabala involving civil society representatives from Azerbaijan and Armenia.

“The ‘Bridge of Peace’ initiative is a project aimed at establishing communication and dialogue between civil society representatives, experts, and the media. Our goal is to prepare societies in both countries, Armenia and Azerbaijan, for peace after a conflict lasting more than 30 years. This is both necessary and vital. Today’s fourth meeting of the ‘Bridge of Peace’ initiative is a significant achievement. When we first started—during the first and second visits—there was a lot of criticism and skepticism regarding the possibility of continuing and establishing this initiative. The fact that we are currently holding the fourth meeting and have no intention of stopping shows that such criticism was unfounded. Furthermore, the initiative has reached a certain level of normalization. Our contacts, periodic meetings, and the ‘homework’ we conduct with our societies are gradually becoming routine. We have agreed on a series of initiatives for the near future. These include articles, research, and joint events that will serve as additional products of our cooperation,” he added.

News.Az 

By Leyla Şirinova