According to Politico, the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia are scheduled to meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday. The meetings come as clashes between Azeri and Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh continue.
The two envoys are set to meet with Pompeo separately. It is not clear if the US will push for a meeting between the two foreign ministers. According to documents obtained by Politico, Azerbaijan Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov will meet with Pompeo first on Friday morning, and Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan will meet with Pompeo shortly after.
In an interview on Monday, Azerbaijan’s ambassador to the US, Elin Suleymanov, did not rule out a meeting between the two foreign ministers. Suleymanov said he hopes the two countries can resume meaningful negotiations. “We want a substantive conversation,” he said.
The news of the meetings comes on the heels of another failed humanitarian ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Last week, Pompeo criticized Turkey’s role in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Since the fighting broke out on September 27th, Turkey has been outspoken in its support of Azerbaijan. Ankara has been accused of sending fighters from northern Syria to Nagorno-Karabakh to support Baku.
Things just took a turn for the worse.
This is indeed bad news! If anything else, this will guarantee a complete fluster cluck with pompass as the conductor.