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Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan announced Tuesday that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan have been invited to the eighth summit of the European Political Community (EPC), which Armenia will host in its capital in 2026.
Mirzoyan announced this during a speech to the Armenian Parliament, where he addressed the government’s foreign policy priorities and ongoing negotiations with neighboring countries.
The EPC summit is scheduled for May 2026 in Yerevan.
The invitations were extended verbally, Mirzoyan said, noting that official documentation would follow later. "We have communicated the invitations. The documents have not been sent yet, but we requested their participation at the highest level verbally," Mirzoyan said.
When asked about the likelihood of the two leaders attending the summit, Mirzoyan indicated it was too early to say, as the matter was new. "We have not yet had the opportunity to talk about the details," he said.
The Armenian foreign minister emphasized Yerevan's progress toward peace and reconciliation, mentioning possible reciprocal visits between the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders.
"I am not saying that we are ready to see Aliyev in Yerevan or Prime Minister (Nikol) Pashinyan in Baku immediately today, but one day this will happen. We must follow this path," Mirzoyan added.
Armenia is also maintaining a "very intense dialogue" with Türkiye, Mirzoyan said. He added that Armenia's "2026 plans and the work we are carrying out are not limited to normalizing relations with Azerbaijan or establishing entrenched peace; they go beyond that."
Discussing peace with Azerbaijan, Mirzoyan described the declaration and normalization agreement signed in Washington on Aug. 8 as a "milestone."
He stressed the importance of lifting the decades-long blockade by saying, "It is extremely important to state that this is about removing a major obstacle. Armenia has been under blockade for more than 30 years, and now the two countries have agreed to lift the obstacle or, if necessary, to build new infrastructure between them."
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