UN Security Council calls for new truce between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh
(North Press) – Members of the United Nations Security Council demanded both Armenia and Azerbaijan abide to a new truce regarding the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region during a closed meeting held on Monday.
The meeting was held at the request of France and Russia to discuss the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Artsakh, is a mountainous region officially recognized as part of Azerbaijan, though it has a predominately Armenian population and is a de facto independent country which calls itself the Republic of Artsakh.
The 15 member-UN Security Council renewed the appeal by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for the two conflicting sides to abide to the “humanitarian truce” that was supposed to take effect on Sunday.
Russia, which is now heading the rotating presidency of the Security Council, is working to issue a statement on the commitment to a ceasefire, according to diplomats.
The statement also calls for both Armenia and Azerbaijan to resume negotiations sponsored by the Minsk Group, which was created in 1992 by France, Russia, and the United States in order to reach a peaceful resolution to the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The new truce was announced when a rocket targeted a populated neighborhood in the Azerbaijani city of Ganja on October 17, killing 13 people, including children.
The humanitarian truce was supposed to take effect on October 18, but both sides exchanged accusations of violating the ceasefire.
More than 800 people have been killed during the three-week-long battles, according to official sources of both sides.
The Armenian-majority Nagorno-Karabakh region seceded from the Shiite-majority and Turkish-speaking Azerbaijan before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, sparking a war which killed 30,000 people in the 1990s. The current fighting in Karabakh is the most intense since the 1990s.