Gov’t expresses concern over Armenia, Azerbaijan clashes

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday expressed its concerns over the ongoing clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The ministry said in a statement that the Nagorno-Karabakh region has been recognized internationally as a part of Azerbaijan and as such Afghanistan calls for the end to clashes and “supports the efforts by the people and government of Azerbaijan and other nations of the world in this regard”.

“Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan calls for re-establishing the ceasefire and resolving the region’s long-standing crisis peacefully,” the statement read.

At least 21 people were killed on Monday in a second day of heavy clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan that reportedly involved airpower, missiles and heavy armor.

The confrontation between the two former Soviet republics has rekindled concern over stability in the South Caucasus, a corridor for pipelines carrying oil and gas to world markets.

Any move to all-out conflict could drag in major regional powers Russia and Turkey, Reuters reported.

Moscow has a defense alliance with Armenia, while Ankara backs its ethnic Turkic kin in Azerbaijan.

Majority Christian Armenia and mainly Muslim Azerbaijan have come to blows periodically in their decades-long conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway region that is inside Azerbaijan but run by ethnic Armenians.

Armenia’s parliament condemned what it said was a “full-scale military attack” by Azerbaijan on Nagorno-Karabakh that was receiving Turkey’s help, adding that Ankara’s involvement could risk destabilizing the region. Azerbaijan denied its ally Turkey was taking part in the fighting.