US President Donald Trump says Washington is looking into what can be done to stop a flare-up of tensions in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
“We are looking at it very strongly. We have a lot of good relationships in that area, we’ll see if we can stop it,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Sunday.
Border clashes broke out on Sunday after Armenian forces targeted Azerbaijani civilian settlements and military positions on September 27.
Armenia’s unprovoked attack against Azerbaijan prompted the latter to launch a counteroffensive to suppress Armenia’s combat activity and ensure the safety of the population.
This July, Armenian cease-fire violations martyred 12 Azerbaijani troops and wounded four others.
Relations between the two former Soviet nations have been tense since 1991, when Armenian military illegally occupied Upper Karabakh, or Nagorno-Karabakh, an internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan.
Four UN Security Council and two UN General Assembly resolutions as well as decisions by many international organizations refer to this fact and demand the withdrawal of Armenia’s occupying forces from Upper Karabakh and seven other occupied regions of Azerbaijan.
Talks to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute have been largely stalled since the ceasefire agreement.
The Minsk Group, which includes France, Russia and the United States, has worked to mediate the dispute, but the efforts became meaningless and abandoned in the past two years after the new Armenian government headed by Nikol Pashinyan refused to continue talks on the basic principles previously agreed upon among the parties.