The head of the Armenian church and the senior Muslim cleric in Azerbaijan pledged on Monday to help to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, with talks between Yerevan and Baku on the enclave deadlocked.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, backed by Christian Armenia, threw off Azeri rule in a war that killed 30,000 people before a ceasefire in 1994. A peace deal has never been reached, and Azerbaijan frequently threatens to take the region back by force.
Karekin II, the Catholicos (chief bishop) of All Armenians, joined in making the pledge during a trip to Baku.
It marked the first visit by the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church to Muslim Azerbaijan since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh escalated towards all-out war.
Karekin II met Allahshukur Pashazade, who heads the Muslim Board of the Caucasus, for talks in Baku which Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill also attended.
After the talks, they issued a joint statement promising support for a 15-year-old mediation process between the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia that has yet to produce a deal.
.".. we intend to contribute to their aspirations and believe it important to continue the dialogue between religious leaders to help resolve the conflict," they said.
Patriarch Kirill said he hoped the meeting would “help ease tensions, and create the conditions for political leaders to take responsibility and come to an agreement.”
Tensions have risen since Armenia and Azerbaijan’s ally Turkey announced a deal last year to mend ties and open their common border, which Ankara closed in solidarity with Azerbaijan during the war. That deal has now been suspended.
Azerbaijan sees the deal as a betrayal of its efforts to win back territory seized by ethnic Armenian forces during the war.
Armenia suspended ratification of the accord last week over Turkish demands that it reach terms with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, but some analysts say the collapse has come too late to soothe Azeri suspicions.
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