Published 12:04 IST, October 21st 2020
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: US to host Armenia, Azerbaijan foreign ministers for talks
Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognised as a part of Azerbaijan but it remains disputed because the region is controlled by ethnic Armenians.
The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan are reportedly scheduled to meet US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington on October 23 to intensify the efforts to end the armed conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. Russia has been driving the mediation efforts with the help of OSCE Minsk Group and Washington now seems to have stepped up its involvement in pacifying the situation which has claimed hundreds of lives since the fight broke out late last month.
The two former Soviet states are in an armed stand-off for years over the Nagorno-Karabakh, a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, and heavy clashes re-erupted on September 27, prompting fears of an all-out war. Russia brokered two ceasefires but the two sides have continued the fight and according to the latest report, 43 more defence personnel have been killed in and around Nagorno-Karabakh.
Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognised as a part of Azerbaijan but it remains disputed because the region is controlled by ethnic Armenians. A wider conflict could severely impact the international markets because Nagorno-Karabakh serves as a corridor for oil and gas pipelines from the Caspian Sea to world markets.
OSCE Minsk Group mediation
Azerbaijan said that its foreign minister would also meet envoys of the OSCE Minsk Group, co-chaired by Russia, France and the United States. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group had earlier released a statement, condemning the continued violence in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.
They expressed alarm at reports of increasing civilian casualties and said that targeting or threatening civilians is “never acceptable under any circumstances.” The co-chairs stressed that participation in the escalating violence by external parties undermines efforts to achieve lasting peace in the region. They reiterated their call for an immediate cessation of hostilities and the resumption of substantive negotiations, in good faith and without preconditions.
Updated 12:03 IST, October 21st 2020