Your trusted source

“We are extremely concerned by the outbreak of military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan and its escalation, which put regional stability at risk. We deeply regret the losses of civilian and military lives reported by both parties,” said the PACE monitoring co-rapporteurs for Armenia, Boriana Åberg (Sweden, EPP/CD) and Kimmo Kiljunen (Finland, SOC), and those for Azerbaijan, Stefan Schennach (Austria, SOC) and Sir Roger Gale (United Kingdom, EC/DA), in a joint statement.

“We urge both parties to immediately cease armed hostilities, to de-escalate the situation and to return to the negotiating table in the Minsk Group format. In addition, we urge all other Council of Europe member States to refrain from any actions or discourse that could contribute to the tension and instability in this volatile region. We reiterate that there is no alternative to a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” they added.

“As we did in our joint statement in July 2020, when clashes took place along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, we underscore the explicit obligation incumbent on member States of the Council of Europe that they should resolve the conflicts between them by peaceful means only,” they said.

“The Assembly stands ready to contribute, at the parliamentary level, to creating an environment conducive to peaceful negotiations within the Minsk Group format,” they concluded.

In the early morning of September 27, Azerbaijan launched a massive air and artillery attack on the Artsakh military positions and numerous civilian settlements and infrastructure in the country, including capital Stepanakert. Several civilians, including a child, have been killed by Azerbaijani shelling.