U.S. says “quite serious” about Karabakh international mission

PanARMENIAN.Net - The United States is “quite serious” about the international mission in Nagorno-Karabakh, U.S. Department of State Matthew Miller told a briefing on Thursday, September 28.

"We think the international mission is important because it relates to all of the other questions about humanitarian assistance, about humanitarian needs in the region. We are so serious about the international mission that the Secretary raised it in his call with President [of Azerbaijan Ilham] Aliyev, pressed him to support an international mission. You may have seen that the Azerbaijani Government came out yesterday and said that they do support an international mission, and in fact in their statement said one of the reasons they are supporting it is because they have been pushed to support it by the United States," the spokesperson said.

"So we are quite clear on it. We’re working with our allies and partners on what the best mechanism to effectuate that is. But we think it’s important to provide transparency and to assure that humanitarian needs are being addressed on the ground."

And Miller said he thinks to best effectuate that it is important that an international mission be established to ensure that those humanitarian needs are addressed.

On September 19, Azerbaijan launched a military offensive against Nagorno-Karabakh, which left hundreds of Armenians killed and thousands of others displaced. On September 20, the authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh agreed to a ceasefire on Azerbaijan’s terms, including the dissolution of the Defense Army. On September 18, President of the Republic of Artsakh Samvel Shahramanyan signed a decree, according to which the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) will cease to exist by January 1, 2024. As of September 29 morning, around 85,000 displaced residents have already fled Nagorno-Karabakh and reached Armenia.