⁍ France, Russia and the United States are co-chairs of the Minsk Group.
⁍ They appealed for peace as the death toll rose in the heaviest clashes since the 1990s.
⁍ Turkey said the three big powers should have no role in peace moves.
– The presidents of France, Russia, and the US issued a joint statement Thursday calling for an “immediate cessation of hostilities” between Azerbaijan and the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, the BBC reports. According to Reuters, Nagorno-Karabakh, which is run by its mostly ethnic Armenian inhabitants, broke away from Azerbaijan in a 1991-94 war that killed 30,000 people, but is not recognized internationally as an independent republic. Azerbaijan claims 103 of its troops have been killed in the fighting since Sunday, while Nagorno-Karabakh says 103 of its troops have been killed and more than 200 wounded. The conflict moved closer to the Armenian capital of Yerevan late Thursday as the government reported four “enemy” drones down near the city. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on social media that the four drones appeared in Armenian airspace in the provinces of Kotayk and Gegharkunik, and Armenian air defense forces had destroyed them. A Reuters witness in the city saw a glowing object in the sky. Dozens of people have been reported killed and hundreds wounded since Sunday in fighting that has renewed concern about stability in the South Caucasus, a corridor for pipelines carrying oil and gas to world markets. Nagorno-Karabakh region’s foreign ministry said the two French nationals working for France’s Le Monde newspaper had been wounded during Azeri shelling of the town of Martuni in Nagorno-Karabakh. An Armenian government source said they were in critical condition and had been transported to Yerevan.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-armenia-azerbaijan/turkey-rebuffs-russia-france-and-us-over-nagorno-karabakh-ceasefire-moves-idUSKBN26M5IJ