Merkel urges 'immediate ceasefire' in Karabakh fighting

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for an "immediate" end to the fighting in the region of Nagorny Karabakh in phone calls with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, her spokesman Steffen Seibert said Tuesday.

"The chancellor urgently called for an immediate ceasefire and a return to the negotiating table," Anadolu Agency cited Seibert as saying.

Merkel spoke with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Monday and with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Tuesday, he added.

The Armenian armed forces committed a large-scale provocation, subjecting the positions of the Azerbaijani army to intensive shelling from large-caliber weapons, mortars, and artillery installations of various calibers in the front-line zone on Sept. 27 at 05:00 (Msk). The command of the Azerbaijani Army decided to launch a counter-offensive operation of Azerbaijani troops along the entire front to suppress the combat activity of the Armenian armed forces and ensure the safety of the civilian population. Seven villages of Fizuli and Jabrayil districts, key heights near Talysh, as well as Murovdag were liberated.