Armenia and Azerbaijan to Hold Peace Settlement Talks in Washington on Sunday

File photo: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (C) meets with an Armenian delegation including Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan (L) and a delegation with Azerbaijan including Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov in New York, New York, US, 19 September 2022. (EPA)
File photo: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (C) meets with an Armenian delegation including Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan (L) and a delegation with Azerbaijan including Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov in New York, New York, US, 19 September 2022. (EPA)
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Armenia and Azerbaijan to Hold Peace Settlement Talks in Washington on Sunday

File photo: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (C) meets with an Armenian delegation including Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan (L) and a delegation with Azerbaijan including Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov in New York, New York, US, 19 September 2022. (EPA)
File photo: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (C) meets with an Armenian delegation including Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan (L) and a delegation with Azerbaijan including Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov in New York, New York, US, 19 September 2022. (EPA)

Armenia and Azerbaijan will hold a new round of talks in Washington on Sunday to try to normalize relations, the spokesperson of Armenia's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

Tensions have been rising again between the two countries over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, where Russian peacekeepers were deployed in 2020 to end a war, the second that Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought over the enclave since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, Reuters said.

The mountain region is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but populated mainly by ethnic Armenians.

"From April 30 Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan will be in Washington DC on a working visit. The next round of discussions on the agreement on normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan is scheduled," the spokesperson, Ani Badalyan, said on her official Facebook page.

There was no immediate confirmation of the meeting by Azerbaijan.

Despite years of attempted mediation between them, Armenia and Azerbaijan have yet to reach a peace agreement that would settle outstanding issues such as the demarcation of borders and return of prisoners.

Azerbaijan set up a new checkpoint last Sunday on the road to Karabakh, the Lachin corridor, in a move that Armenia called a gross violation of a 2020 ceasefire.



Türkiye Detains 9 People over Ski Resort Hotel Fire that Killed 76

Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya (C) speaks to the media outside a hotel where a fire broke out in the Kartalkaya Ski Resort in Bolu, northwestern Turkey, on January 21, 2025. (Photo by Adem ALTAN / AFP)
Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya (C) speaks to the media outside a hotel where a fire broke out in the Kartalkaya Ski Resort in Bolu, northwestern Turkey, on January 21, 2025. (Photo by Adem ALTAN / AFP)
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Türkiye Detains 9 People over Ski Resort Hotel Fire that Killed 76

Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya (C) speaks to the media outside a hotel where a fire broke out in the Kartalkaya Ski Resort in Bolu, northwestern Turkey, on January 21, 2025. (Photo by Adem ALTAN / AFP)
Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya (C) speaks to the media outside a hotel where a fire broke out in the Kartalkaya Ski Resort in Bolu, northwestern Turkey, on January 21, 2025. (Photo by Adem ALTAN / AFP)

Türkiye has detained nine people, including the owner of the hotel, in connection with a deadly fire that claimed the lives of 76 people and injured dozens at a ski resort in western Türkiye, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said early Wednesday.

Yerlikaya also reported that the bodies of 45 victims had been handed over to their families, while DNA tests were being conducted to identify the remaining bodies at the forensic institute.

The fire occurred at the Grand Kartal Hotel in the Kartalkaya ski resort in the Bolu mountains.

The hotel, where the fire broke out, expressed deep sorrow in a statement on Wednesday and pledged full cooperation with the investigation.

"We are cooperating with the authorities to shed light on all aspects of this incident," Reuters quoted the statement as saying. "We are deeply saddened by the losses and want you to know that we share this pain with all our hearts."

The 12-story hotel, which had 238 registered guests, was consumed by flames after the fire started on the restaurant floor around 3:30 a.m. (0030 GMT). Survivors described scenes of panic as they fled through smoke-filled corridors and jumped from windows to escape.

Authorities are facing growing criticism over the hotel’s safety measures, as survivors reported that no fire alarms went off during the incident. Guests said they had to navigate the smoke-filled corridors in complete darkness.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared Wednesday a day of national mourning following the tragedy, which occurred during the peak of the winter tourism season, with many families from Istanbul and Ankara travelling to the Bolu mountains for skiing.