EU calls for international ceasefire monitoring mechanism in Karabakh

In a joint statement on the continuing conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh the Chair of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, David McAllister (EPP, DE), the European Parliament’s standing rapporteur on Armenia, Andrey Kovatchev (EPP, BG) and the European Parliament’s standing rapporteur on Azerbaijan, Željana Zovko (EPP, HR) strongly condemned the ongoing hostilities between the two countries.

"We strongly condemn the ongoing hostilities between the two countries, in violation of three ceasefire agreements concluded on 10, 17 and 25 October 2020 as part of the continuous efforts of the international community to put an end to the fighting," the statement reads.

"We call for an immediate and unconditional stop of military operations in order to avoid a further irreversible humanitarian catastrophe... We also call for the introduction of an effective international ceasefire monitoring mechanism," the parties added.

"We urge Armenia and Azerbaijan to re-start substantive negotiations under the auspices of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs and based on agreed basic principles as soon as possible. We call on all regional actors to support the talks under this format accepted by both sides and encourage them to take the urgent and necessary steps needed to achieve a lasting peace," they concluded.

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. To date, Fizuli and Jabrayil districts, including the cities of Jabrayil and Fizuli, the city of Zangilan and part of Zangilan district, part of the Gubaldi region, the city of Gubadli, the city of Hadrut and a number of villages in the Khojavend region, the villages of Sugovushan and Talish in the Terter region, as well as the strategically important Murovdag mountain were liberated.