Armenia-Azerbejajan Wars, European Union Urges Urgent Ceasefire

European diplomacy chief Josep Borrell has today called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to end the military conflict and return to the negotiating table as the only possible solution.

Borrell has discussed with the ministers of these two countries today, in which he has stressed the importance of the immediate ceasefire.

“There is no military solution to the conflict, the only way to move forward is to return to the table of negotiations without preconditions under the leadership of the OSCE Minsk Group”, he wrote on Twitter.

The Armenia-Azerbaijan wars have erupted over the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Heavy combat broke out in the region within Azerbaijan this morning, but has been under the control of Armenian-backed ethnic Armenian forces since 1994, at the end of a separatist war.

It was not immediately clear what caused the fighting, the worst since the July clashes, leaving 16 people dead and dozens injured.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, chairman of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, called on the parties to stop fighting.

Highly unsuccessful territorial status resolution negotiations have been conducted under the auspices of the OSCE.

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan began in February 1988, when the autonomous region of Nagorno-Karabakh declared the expulsion from Azerbaijan.

During the 1992-1994 conflict, Azerbaijan lost control of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven neighbouring regions. Negotiations on a peaceful solution to the conflict have been under way since 1992 within the OSCE Minsk Group, led by Russia, the United States and France.