Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (right) meets with his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov in the capital Ankara, August 27. (Source: APA)

Speaking at a joint press conference with his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan stated: “During the meeting, we reaffirmed our common desire for lasting peace and stability to be established in the South Caucasus as soon as possible… We highly appreciate the progress made in the ongoing peace talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia.”

Azerbaijan and Armenia have fought two wars – in the 1990s and 2020 – over control of Nagorny-Karabakh, a region predominantly inhabited by ethnic Armenians.

Years of diplomatic talks have failed to produce a breakthrough, but peace talks resumed after Baku won a decisive victory last year in seizing the breakaway region of Nagorny-Karabakh.

In July 2024, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared that Armenia and Azerbaijan were on the way to reaching an agreement on a “lasting” peace when he successfully persuaded the two countries’ foreign ministers to sit down for talks on the sidelines of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Summit in Washington.