3+3 Format Can End South Caucasus Challenges: Amirabdollahian
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The 3+3 Platform meeting due to be held in Tehran on Monday could become the cornerstone of settlement of conflicts in the South Caucasus region, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said.
In a post on his X account, Amirabdollahian said Tehran is going to host a meeting of foreign ministers of the 3+3 format states –Iran, Russia, Turkey, the Republic of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia- on Monday evening to discuss the latest developments in the South Caucasus region.
The title of the forthcoming forum is ‘time for peace, cooperation and progress in South Caucasus’, the Iranian foreign minister added, noting that the platform could lay the foundation for the establishment of calm and resolution of challenges in the South Caucasus with the participation of the intraregional actors and neighbors.
The situation in the South Caucasus has become tumultuous in the past recent months after a series of political developments in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
The separatist government of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, backed by Armenia, said in late September it would dissolve itself by the end of 2023 after a three-decade bid for independence.
The decision triggered a massive exodus by the ethnic Armenians.
The region and sizable surrounding territories came under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by the Armenian military at the end of a separatist war in 1994. But the Azerbaijan Republic regained the territories and parts of Nagorno-Karabakh itself after six weeks of fighting in 2020. The area is recognized internationally as part of Azerbaijan.