NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called on Monday 5 October for an immediate end to the fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.
“We are deeply concerned by the escalation of hostilities. All sides should immediately cease fighting. And find a way forward towards a peaceful resolution”, he stressed, adding that there was no military solution to the conflict.
Together with the Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, in Ankara, Mr Stoltenberg said he expected Turkey to “use its considerable influence to calm tensions”.
But speaking to the press, Mr Çavuşoğlu did not really call for appeasement. He was surprised that the international community, including NATO, was not asking Armenia to withdraw “immediately”. “Azerbaijan is on its own territory, trying to take back its own land from terrorists, occupiers”, he added, believing that Baku should be supported “legally and morally”. And while Azerbaijan has not, so far, asked Turkey to help it, if it did, Ankara would be ready to do so, the minister explained.
Mr Çavuşoğlu also accused Armenia of “committing war crimes”, by attacking areas populated by civilians.
In addition, Mr Soltenberg, who will be visiting Athens on 6 October, discussed tensions in the eastern Mediterranean, including the agreement announced on 1 October on the implementation of a deconfliction mechanism (see EUROPE 12572/25). “I strongly hope that the underlying differences can now be resolved only through negotiations, in the spirit of Allied solidarity and international law”, he added.
At the same time, in Brussels, the spokesman of the European External Action Service, Peter Stano, welcomed the withdrawal of the Turkish ship Yavuz from the Cypriot exclusive economic zone. According to him, the departure is “another welcome step towards de-escalation in the Eastern Mediterranean and we hope to see others in this direction”. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)