EU raises concern over Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, calls for 'immediate negotiations'

On September 26, the European Council president Charles Michel called for a ceasefire to the Armenian, and Azerbaijani separatists clashes and urged for an "immediate return to negotiations”.In a tweet, Michel urged a cessation to the military action “as a matter of urgency, to prevent a further escalation.” Further, he said that the Azerbaijani and the Armenian troops must return to the negotiation table “without preconditions.” Former Belgian Prime Minister agreed, saying, “hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone are of utmost importance” need to cease and all military measures needed to “urgently stop” without “further escalation”.

Earlier on September 26, skirmishes broke out on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the South Caucasus between military troops. The situation escalated and the verbal war of words turned to volatile clashes between the two countries’ armed forces over claims on the Armenian breakaway region of Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh. Even as the two nations reached a historic ceasefire in 1994, Azerbaijan claims sovereignty on ethnic Armenians’ territory that declared its independence from Azerbaijan in the late Society-Era. Thawing the regional stability on Sunday, the Azerbaijani and Armenian military violated the ceasefire along the Nagorno-Karabakh line of contact and launched full-blown out attacks at each other in the worst escalations since 2016, according to state-run agencies’ reports. 

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Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, in an urgent telephonic conversation with Armenia’s former Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, expressed “serious concern” over the two nations’ tensed border situation, Russian news agency reports confirmed. Russia called for an immediate ceasefire and talks to stabilize the region. While it remains unclear which of the two military troops initiated the conflict, The Armenian Defence Ministry issued a statement, saying, the Azerbaijan military launched an attack on civilian settlements, including the regional capital Stepanakert at 08:10 local time (04:10 GMT). Forces shot down two helicopters, three military tanks, and at least three Armenian drones when the Armenian armed forces resort to retaliation. "Azerbaijan bears full responsibility for the situation", the statement read. 

Military mobilization declared

Martial law and military mobilization were declared and the attacks so far claimed civilians' lives, including a woman and child. Meanwhile, the Azerbaijan military in a statement accused Armenian troops of deliberate and “targeted attacks” on Nagorno-Karabakh, and civilian villages, adding that it destroyed 12 Armenian air defence systems. 

As a member of the Minsk group with the United States and Russia that intervenes to end hostilities and initiate dialogues, France foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes Bon der Muhll said in a statement that it was “extremely concerned about the confrontation between two countries. According to an official statement by the European union’s External Action (EEAS), the bilateral border war, involving the use of heavy weapons that led to the loss of lives needed urgent OSCE Minsk Group interference. 

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(Image Credit: AP)