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TALLINN, September 27. / TASS /. Tallinn will initiate United Nations Security Council consultations on the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said on Sunday.
“As a member of the United Nations Security Council, Estonia will initiate consultations to discuss the events in Nagorno-Karabakh,” the Estonian Foreign Ministry press service said.
Estonia is a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2020-201.
“I call on the parties to immediately stop hostilities and take all possible measures to prevent a further escalation of the situation,” the minister stressed. “The use of violence to resolve differences deserves condemnation. It is important that the parties immediately stop hostilities and begin to resolve differences peacefully.”
He also said that he plans to contact the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia. “The situation is extremely serious, as it is fraught with dramatic consequences for peace and security throughout the region,” he added.
The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh escalated on September 27, when Azerbaijan said its positions had come under heavy attack from Armenia. Armenia, in turn, said that the Azerbaijani army had carried out an offensive in the direction of Nagorno-Karabakh. She said that several settlements in Nagorno-Karabakh, including its administrative center Stepanakert, had been bombed by Azerbaijan. Both parties report casualties, including among civilians. The Armenian authorities have imposed martial law and announced the mobilization of reservists. Azerbaijan also imposed martial law on the entire territory of the country.
The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan prior to the disintegration of the Soviet Union, but populated mainly by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Autonomous of Nagorno-Karabakh. Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1992-1994, tensions erupted into large-scale military action for control of the enclave and seven adjacent territories after Azerbaijan lost control of them. Talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement have been ongoing since 1992 under the OSCE Minsk Group, led by its three co-chairs: Russia, France and the United States.
