A group of US Senate Republicans issued a statement on Thursday calling for an immediate halt to hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh and a return to peace negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st October, 2020) A group of US Senate Republicans issued a statement on Thursday calling for an immediate halt to hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh and a return to peace negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
"Both Armenia and Azerbaijan should immediately cease the violence and return to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's Minsk Group to negotiate a peaceful end to this decades-long disagreement," the statement said.
The group of senators comprising Marco Rubio, Jim Risch, Rob Portman, Ron Johnson and Susan Collins also urged all regional powers involved in the conflict to cease "aggressive and escalatory" actions and to use their leverage to bring the waring factions to the negotiating table.
Armenian officials have accused Turkey of interjecting itself into the conflict said that Azerbaijan had transferred the air control of the offensive operation against Nagorno Karabakh to the Turkish Air Force. Yerevan has also claimed that Ankara deployed mercenaries from Syria to fight alongside Azerbaijani troops.
Turkey has denied all Armenian claims, with the vice president of the security and intelligence committee in the Turkish parliament, Mehmet Altay, telling Sputnik that claims of Turkish-backed mercenaries operating in the disputed region are "unfounded."
Since 1991, Armenia and Azerbaijan have been engaged in a conflict over the Armenian-majority region of Nagorno Karabakh after it proclaimed independence from what was the Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan.
On Sunday morning, clashes occurred in Nagorno Karabakh with both sides accusing the other of carrying out provocations. Armenia declared martial law and general mobilization, while Azerbaijan declared partial martial law and partial mobilization. Azerbaijan has closed its airports to all international air traffic except from Turkey, which has pledged support to Baku.
Earlier on Thursday, the leaders of Russia, the United States and France - the co-chairing countries of the OSCE Minsk Group - called for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh and for Armenia and Azerbaijan to resume negotiations without preconditions.
