Sargsyan: Nagorno-Karabakh could escalate into a full-scale war
At a meeting with ambassadors of OSCE member states, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said that the aggravation of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh could escalate into full-scale war, Rosbalt reported.
"A further escalation of hostilities may have unpredictable and irreversible consequences, up to a full-scale war," the Armenian President said.
According to Sargsyan, Armenia favors the cessation of hostilities and the return of all troops to the positions they held prior to April 1st, 2016.
"A ceasefire agreement [from 1994] remains in force, and Azerbaijan should follow the letter and spirit of the document, not as a manifestation of good will, but as an international obligation,” Sargsyan stated.
"Azerbaijan should begin direct talks with authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh, regardless of whether they like it or not. I believe that every case of a violation of the ceasefire regime must be the subject of detailed study and evaluation,” he continued.
Sargsyan said that the OSCE should be involved in bringing peace to the disputed territory. “First and foremost, it is necessary as soon as possible to introduce mechanisms to investigate border incidents- a significant increase in the monitoring mission of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman. In the zone of conflict is necessary to increase the number of field assistants of personal representative of the OSCE Chairman who will register the cease-fire violations,” the Armenian President stated.
According to the UN, 33 people have been killed and more than 200 injured since hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh resumed on Saturday.
The de facto independent and unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic was established on the basis of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic and has been controlled by ethnic Armenians since a war over the disputed territory ended in 1994.