Lawrence Broers: "Escalation in Karabakh is a crisis that cannot be ignored"

Since September 27, 42 civilians have been killed as a result of shelling of Azerbaijani settlements by the Armenian occupation forces. In addition, according to the General Prosecutor's Office of Azerbaijan, 206 people were injured, and 1,479 houses, 66 apartment buildings and 241 civilian objects were damaged. It is worth mentioning that units of the Azerbaijani army observe the humanitarian ceasefire regime. Defense Ministry spokesman Vagif Dargyahli said that no shelling or offensives were carried out by the Azerbaijani army, which can not be said about the Armenian Armed Forces.

The ongoing escalation of the conflict worries the world community. "The killing of civilians by the Armenian side is unacceptable. Armenia, emboldened by impunity, is committing new provocations," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, proposing to hold an urgent meeting of the Minsk Group. For his part, Laurence Broers, director of the Caucasus program at the London-based organization Conciliation Resources, called on the US and the EU to step up their efforts to resolve the conflict.

To bolster the effectiveness of a ceasefire "more active entry and lobbying for stabilisation from the third co-chair of the Minsk Group - the United States," would be needed, Euronews writes in the article Nagorno-Karabakh: US and European influence needed for ceasefire to be a success, says expert with a reference to Laurence Broers, Caucasus programme director at Conciliation Resources.

"We need a lot more action from European states to support humanitarian relief and a return to the negotiating table," he added.

Euronews reminds that in a statement released an hour after the truce started, the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry said that a number of populated areas were "under artillery fire by the Armenian armed forces". Azerbaijani authorities said on Sunday that nine civilians have been killed and over 30 wounded after Armenian forces fired missiles overnight on Ganja, Azerbaijan's second-largest city.