Merkel calls for efforts to ensure Karabakh cease-fire

BERLIN

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for efforts to ensure an acceptable and permanent cease-fire in the disputed Karabakh region.

In remarks made during a joint press conference with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan in Berlin Wednesday, Merkel said: “Efforts for an acceptable and permanent cease-fire are very important. As long as the clashes continue, a political process cannot be reached.”

Over the weekend, 12 Azerbaijani troops and more than 100 Armenian soldiers were killed in fighting over Karabakh, which was seized by ethnic Armenian separatists in the early 1990s.

Sargsyan said Armenia supports a mechanism to investigate the cease-fire breach. “Armenia also supported the retreat of snipers from the frontline as a trust-building measure but these never realized,” he said.

Armenian militia has occupied Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region since 1993, similar to how pro-Russian militia have illegally occupied parts of Ukraine since 2014.

Three UN Security Council resolutions (853, 874 and 884) and UN General Assembly resolutions 19/13 and 57/298 refer to Karabakh as being part of Azerbaijan.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) also refers to the territory as under the occupation of Armenian forces.

BERLIN

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for efforts to ensure an acceptable and permanent cease-fire in the disputed Karabakh region.

Over the weekend, 12 Azerbaijani troops and more than 100 Armenian soldiers were killed in fighting over Karabakh, which was seized by ethnic Armenian separatists in the early 1990s.

Armenian militia has occupied Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region since 1993, similar to how pro-Russian militia have illegally occupied parts of Ukraine since 2014.

Three UN Security Council resolutions (853, 874 and 884) and UN General Assembly resolutions 19/13 and 57/298 refer to Karabakh as being part of Azerbaijan.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) also refers to the territory as under the occupation of Armenian forces.