BERLIN: The global community must recognize the right of the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region to determine its own future, Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian said Wednesday after four days of deadly clashes that unsettled the West.
“They want to determine their own fate and their own future,” Sarkisian said of the region after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.
“They expect only one thing from the international community, namely the recognition of this right.”
At least 75 people were reported killed as the festering dispute over the territory — which was captured from Azerbaijan by Armenian separatists in an early 1990s war — escalated dramatically on Friday, sparking international concern.
Azerbaijan’s army claimed to have snatched control of several strategic locations inside Armenian-controlled territory, effectively changing the frontline for the first time since an inconclusive truce ended the war in 1994.
Both sides have accused each other of starting the latest outbreak of violence, and it has sparked fears of a wider conflict in the region that could drag in Russia and Turkey.
Sarkisian accused Azerbaijan of “unilaterally” breaking the peace by taking “hostile action,” transforming the region into a “security threat.” He also hit out at Russia. Although Moscow has sold arms to both sides, it has a military alliance with, and a base in, Armenia and far closer ties to Yerevan.
“It is of course painful for us that Russia and other countries... sell weapons to Azerbaijan,” he said.
“But our scope to influence this process is limited.”
Merkel called on the two sides “to do everything in their power to stop the bloodshed and loss of life” and said international mediation efforts were “of the greatest urgency.”
The German leader also said she would host Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev for talks in June.
Let Karabakh determine its own future: Armenian leader
Let Karabakh determine its own future: Armenian leader
Trump ‘very disappointed’ with UK’s Starmer for blocking use of air bases, Telegraph says
- UK PM then said bases could be used in “defensive” operations
- Trump says it took “too long” for Starmer to change his mind
LONDON: Donald Trump said he was “very disappointed” with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for not allowing the US to use the Diego Garcia air base to carry out strikes on Iran, the Daily Telegraph quoted the US president as saying in an interview.
Britain had reportedly initially denied the US permission to conduct air strikes from its bases, but on Sunday evening Starmer said he was accepting a request for their use in any “defensive” strikes the US wanted to make against Iranian targets.
In an interview published on Monday Trump told the British newspaper that it took “too long” for Starmer to change his mind.
“That’s probably never happened between our countries before,” he told the Telegraph, adding: “It sounds like he was worried about the legality.”
Trump said Starmer should have approved from the get-go the American use of Diego Garcia — a strategically important US-UK air base in the Indian Ocean — saying Iran was responsible for killing “a lot of people from your country.”
Britain was not involved in the joint US-Israel air strikes on Iran that killed the country’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Saturday.
Since attacks on Iran started on Saturday, Iran has been targeting Gulf countries with missiles, and on Sunday an Iranian-made drone hit Britain’s RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus, causing limited damage and no casualties.
Trump said it was “useful” that the US would now be able to launch operations from Diego Garcia, as he also criticized a deal Starmer has made over the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, where Diego Garcia is based.
