The meeting between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, clearly reveals the contours of a new post-conflict geopolitical order emerging in the South Caucasus. This meeting is not merely a diplomatic gesture—it reflects Azerbaijan’s principled diplomatic stance and its growing political weight. For years, negotiation formats such as the defunct OSCE Minsk Group or third-party mediation efforts after the war—often driven by external interests—served more to preserve the status quo than to resolve the core issues.
The choice of Abu Dhabi as the venue for these bilateral talks is no coincidence. Crucially, the UAE has no vested interest in the conflict, does not assume a partisan role, is a friendly country to Azerbaijan, and also maintains good relations with Armenia.
The Abu Dhabi meeting may be seen as a historic turning point. The absence of any mediator and the direct, face-to-face nature of the meeting is a practical confirmation of Azerbaijan’s long-standing position—that peace is achievable through regional frameworks, based on direct and transparent dialogue. It also signals the willingness of regional states to take ownership of their destinies. Azerbaijan is safeguarding its national interests through a sovereign political trajectory, free from manipulative external influence. This, in turn, sends a clear message to Armenia: the era of insincere diplomatic maneuvering is over. It is now time for realpolitik and mutual accountability.
The political context of the meeting: was it a summit, or a genuine effort to reach an agreement?
Aliyev and Pashinyan meeting in the UAE In previous years, peace talks were often held with the mediation of powerful actors such as the European Union, Russia, or the United States. In this context, what makes the Abu Dhabi meeting notable is that, for the first time, the two leaders are negotiating face to face, without official intermediaries.
Serious and substantive discussions were held on key aspects of the peace agenda — border delimitation, the opening and development of the Zangazur Corridor, and the initialing of a peace agreement.
Both parties reached a general understanding to continue negotiations through various working groups and at higher levels.
Moscow losing its influence in the region with Azerbaijan and Armenia distancing themselves from their former ally will leave a dangerous vacuum of power.
Azerbaijan is quite correct, as is Armenia, in rejecting any mediating role for Russia but there may be concerns about how Russia may seek to regain that lost influence in the South Caucasus.
