US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken promised support USA in its peace process Armenia and his Azerbaijan in his separate talks with the leaders of the two states, while he called for the reopening of a vital road to his disputed enclave Nagorno-Karabakh.

The two Caucasian countries have been embroiled in two wars over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous region populated mostly by Armenians that broke away from Azerbaijan three decades ago.

In a phone call with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev yesterday, Mr. Blinken expressed “deep US concerns about Azerbaijan’s establishment of a checkpoint in the Lachin Corridor, which could undermine confidence-building efforts in the peace process,” a US State Department spokesman said. Matthew Miller.

Azerbaijan set up a checkpoint over the weekend on the only road connecting Armenia with the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.

Armenia condemned the installation of this checkpoint, regarding it as a violation of the ceasefire agreement with Azerbaijan.

“Peace Is Possible”

Mr Blinken “stressed the importance of reopening Luchine Road to private and public vehicles as soon as possible,” the statement said.

He also promised Mr. Aliyev US support for the peace process and expressed the view that “peace is possible.”

The previous day, Mr. Blinken spoke with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, according to a separate press release issued by Mr. Miller last Saturday.

The US Secretary of State referred to “the importance of peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan”, insisting that “direct dialogue and diplomacy are the only way to achieve lasting peace” in the Caucasus, the laconic text says.

With Russia seemingly consumed by the war it unleashed in Ukraine 14 months ago and isolated on the international stage, the US and the European Union are now playing the role of mediators in the process of normalizing relations between Baku and Yerevan.

^{Source: APE-MEB, AFP.}