A peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan is possible by the end of 2023

Afghan Voice Agency (AVA) - Monitoring: “Negotiations are going very intensively, if we maintain this intensity and there is strong support from the international community to achieve progress, then there is a chance to have a peace agreement by the end of the year,” said Armen Grigoryan, the Secretary of Armenia's Security Council, said during a Sunday interview with the country’s First Channel. 

Grigoryan went on to emphasized that Yerevan is determined to reach a peace treaty with Baku as soon as possible.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh for decades.

Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan though it is mostly populated by ethnic Armenians that have resisted Azerbaijani rule since a separatist war there ended in 1994.

In 2020, the second Karabakh war broke out, killing more than 6,500 people on both sides during a six-week conflict. The war ended with a Russian-brokered ceasefire deal that saw Yerevan cede swathes of the Azerbaijani territory that it had been holding for several decades.

Both sides routinely trade accusations over ceasefire violations.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev have held several meetings, separately arranged by Russia, the European Union and the US, as they seek to resolve their dispute.

Peace talks appeared to be making progress in recent weeks, with Pashinyan expressing his country’s readiness to recognize Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan.