Diplomacy
Armenia and Azerbaijan Civil Societies Advance Peace Dialogue in April Talks
April 23, 2026
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Min
Civil society representatives from Armenia and Azerbaijan convened a new round of broad peace talks in April 2026, advancing what has become an increasingly substantive track-two diplomatic process as both governments work toward finalising the formal peace treaty initialised in August 2025.
The April sessions brought together community leaders, academics, journalists, cultural figures, and business representatives from both countries—a cross-section of civil society that reflects the deliberate broadening of the normalization process beyond state-level diplomacy. The scope and depth of conversations have expanded considerably since earlier sessions focused primarily on confidence-building measures and symbolic exchanges.
Euronews reported that the April talks were described as productive by participants on both sides, with consensus emerging on the importance of accelerating humanitarian dimensions of the normalization: the exchange of detainees, return of remains, and demining of border areas. Business associations from Yerevan and Baku have begun exploring joint working groups on trade facilitation, customs procedures, standards harmonisation, and financial settlement mechanisms.
The humanitarian dimension carries particular weight. Years of conflict produced thousands of missing persons cases, significant displacement on both sides, and extensive landmine contamination along the former line of contact. RAND's analysis of the peace process noted that durable reconciliation requires sustained civil society engagement over years and decades, not just diplomatic agreements between governments.
The participants also addressed cultural exchange: proposals for academic partnerships, joint cultural projects, and cross-border tourism facilitation. Some of these proposals have historical precedent—Armenian and Azerbaijani cultural exchange was extensive in the Soviet period—and their revival would signal a depth of normalization that goes beyond commercial convenience. For international observers, the April sessions indicate that the normalization process has social roots, not merely governmental ones—a distinction that matters greatly for assessments of the peace's long-term durability.
