On April 25, standing alongside President Ilham Aliyev in Gabala during his first state visit to the South Caucasus region following the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said something that rewrote the diplomatic script for a four-year war in one breath. “We are ready for trilateral talks,” he said. “We already held talks like that in Türkiye and Switzerland, and I am confident that we can hold them in Azerbaijan, as long as Russia is ready for diplomacy.” Without delay, President Aliyev took up the implicit responsibility. Soon after, the pair signed six bilateral accords concerning defense, energy, security, and investment, a trip so substantive that the proposal for a place of peace talks, the most significant aspect of the day’s activities, would have been overlooked in any press release.

A political gesture, carried out after four years of fighting, from a politician who has taken those four years to craft carefully which nations will be honored with the privilege of playing mediator in Ukraine’s affairs. Türkiye was selected to host the Istanbul talks in 2022. Switzerland was selected to host the Global Peace Summit in 2024. Each one was selected because it was an independent enough nation to serve as a neutral venue for such talks. Azerbaijan can now be added to that list.

But how possible is it for Baku to be that "Peace Venue"?

Acting as a peace venue is not just the physical space but a declaration of whose political capital is on the table, whose reputation is behind the process, and what both sides are willing to concede without compromising their negotiating positions before any discussion takes........

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