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“That is a strange position”: This is how Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan reacted to a proposal from Azerbaijan to the Russian news agency Interfax. President Ilham Aliyev had mentioned the involvement of his ally Turkey in the bloody dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Until now, the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE), chaired by France, Russia and the United States, has mediated the decades-long conflict. “Negotiations must continue in this format,” Pashinyan said. That was also agreed in a joint statement in Moscow. “But Azerbaijan changes position every time.”
Heavy fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh has continued since late September. Azerbaijan lost control of the mountainous area with around 145,000 inhabitants in a war after the collapse of the Soviet Union some 30 years ago. Since 1994 there has been a fragile ceasefire. More recently, there were two ceasefire agreements, but they were broken shortly after they came into force.
The United States holds separate talks with parties to the conflict
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held two separate meetings in Washington on Friday with his Azerbaijani and Armenian counterparts Jeyhun Bayramov and Sohrab Mnazakanjan. Information on the results of the discussions was not provided initially.
Both sides also reported on new battles on Friday. According to the Armenian representation, the opposing side bombed the cities of Askeran and Martuni. Azerbaijan, for its part, accused the neighboring country of firing at Azerbaijani positions in eastern Nagorno Karabakh. In addition, both parties reported the downing of drones.
According to the Nagorno-Karabakh authorities, 927 soldiers were killed in fighting on Friday. More than 30 civilians died. So far, Azerbaijan has not provided any information on military losses. The number of civilians killed has so far stood at 63. Russia estimates that a total of nearly 5,000 people have died since the new skirmishes began.
