“We have expressed our concern about Turkey’s role, the foreign militants being brought in, weapons being provided. These are issues of concern and remain a part of our dialogue with Turkey and Russia,” said Acting Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Reeker said on Tuesday during a hearing at the Helsinki Commission
“We welcome the secession of hostilities in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone, and deeply regret the really brutal and certainly unnecessary loss of life, including among civilians,” he said.
“We continue to stress that there is no military solution to that long-standing conflict,” Reeker said, adding that the solution should be attained at the negotiating table.
The State Department official also announced that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs are scheduled to visit Armenia and Azerbaijan over the weekend.
Reeker said that the OSCE Minsk Group U.S. Co-Chair Andrew Schofer “will be going this weekend with the other co-chairs to both capitals – Baku and Yerevan – to see where we can get the co-chairs back into a role to try to move forward on a diplomatic solution.”
Reeker also said that the United States will continue to watch closely the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and considers the OSCE to be the right platform to raise the matter with the other countries.
