BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 2. The US would encourage Azerbaijan and Armenia to return to peace talks to discuss and ultimately come to resolution of remaining issues, US State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller said during a briefing on October 2, Trend reports.
Talking about the situation in Karabakh, Miller said the US welcomes the UN mission in the region, noting that the US takes accusations of ethnic cleansing, genocide and other atrocities seriously.
He pointed out that Azerbaijan has made assurances that the rights and securities of ethnic Armenians in Karabakh would be protected.
The UN mission has arrived in Azerbaijan’s Karabakh on October 1. The purpose of the mission is to familiarize with the situation on the ground and determine the humanitarian needs of the residents. The mission includes representatives of various UN agencies.
In today’s statement, the UN mission debunked Armenia’s allegations about so-called “ethnic cleansing” in Karabakh.
“A United Nations mission, led by Vladanka Andreeva, UN Resident Coordinator in Azerbaijan, visited the Karabakh region in Azerbaijan on Sunday, 1 October.
Traveling from Aghdam, the mission visited the city of Khankendi, where the team met with the local population and interlocutors and saw first-hand the situation regarding health and education facilities. In parts of the city that the team visited, they saw no damage to civilian public infrastructure, including hospitals, schools and housing, or to cultural and religious structures. The mission saw that the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan was preparing for the resumption of health services and some utilities in the city,” the statement said.
Source: Trend