Azerbaijani delegation visits Armenia for roundtable discussions

A group of 19 Azerbaijani journalists and experts, whom Baku describes as civil society figures, arrived in Armenia on Friday for a series of roundtable discussions with Armenian intellectuals, NGO members and journalists. The event, titled Bridge for Peace, is a confidence-building initiative in the Armenian-Azeri normalization process.

The visit expands on a smaller event in October, when five Azeri experts also traveled to Armenia for similar discussions. Notably, this time the Azerbaijanis arrived in Armenia not by plane, as they did in October, but by land through the only small section of the shared border that was demarcated in 2024.

During the discussions, representatives of Armenian and Azerbaijani civil societies will address the peace agenda established at the Washington Summit last August. Separate sessions will focus on the regional security architecture, the benefits of peace, public perceptions on the relations between the two nations, prospects for economic cooperation, as well as the role of civil society in strengthening mutual understanding and trust.

The visits are widely seen as more symbolic rather than practical, given that in the absence of diplomatic representation some contacts need to be established and dialogue should remain ongoing. On Armenia’s part, the country’s National Security Service chief Andranik Simonyan and several staff members traveled to Baku in September to participate in a regional security forum.

The events have drawn criticism from some Armenian political commentators and members of the NGO community, who argue that Azerbaijan’s so-called civil society is not genuinely independent, as such a space does not exist in Baku’s authoritarian regime, but instead consists of figures aligned with the government’s propaganda machine and reporting to Azerbaijan’s authorities.