PARIS: The presidents of Russia, the United States and France called on Thursday for a ceasefire in the Nagorny Karabakh region, urging Armenia and Azerbaijan to commit to talks without delay or preconditions.
“We call for an immediate cessation of hostilities between the relevant military forces’’, French President Emmanuel Macron, Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump of the US said in a statement released by the Elysee.
“We also call on the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to commit without delay to resuming substantive negotiations’’, said the leaders, whose countries are the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk group that has sought a solution to the conflict since the 1990s.
The statement said such talks should be “in good faith and without preconditions” and be held under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.
The Minsk group, which was created by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 1992, has on occasion overseen summits between Armenian and Azeri leaders but has failed to find any lasting resolution to the conflict.
The fiercest clashes between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces in years over the region erupted last Sunday. The number of confirmed deaths neared 130 as fighting raged for a fifth day. The rival Caucasus nations have been locked in a bitter stalemate over the Karabakh region since the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the ethnic Armenian region broke away from Azerbaijan.
Karabakh’s declaration of independence from Azerbaijan sparked a war in the early 1990s that claimed 30,000 lives. Controlled by ethnic Armenians, the region is still not recognised as independent by any country, including Armenia.
TURKEY REBUFFS CALL
Meanwhile, Turkey said the three big powers should have no role in peace moves. In a speech to the Turkish parliament just before the three countries’ statement, President Tayyip Erdogan said he opposed their involvement. “Given that the USA, Russia and France have neglected this problem for nearly 30 years, it is unacceptable that they are involved in a search for a ceasefire’’, Erdogan said.
— AFP/Reuters
He said a lasting ceasefire could be achieved only if “Armenian occupiers” withdrew from Nagorno-Karabakh. His comments are likely to fuel tension with his Nato allies as fears mount that the conflict could draw in regional powers Russia, which has a military base in Armenia, and Turkey.
MOUNTING DEATH TOLL
Dozens of people have been reported killed and hundreds wounded since Sunday in fighting that has renewed concern about stability in the South Caucasus, a corridor for pipelines carrying oil and gas to world markets. Azerbaijan said at least three Azeri civilians had been killed in the latest clashes, taking the civilian death toll in Azerbaijan to at least 18. Azerbaijan has not reported on casualties among its military forces.
Nagorno-Karabakh has said 103 of its servicemen have been killed and more than 200 wounded but has given no figures on civilian casualties. Armenia said two French nationals working for France’s Le Monde newspaper had been wounded during Azeri shelling of the town of Martuni in Nagorno-Karabakh, clarifying earlier confusion over the location of the incident. — AFP/Reuters
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