Mike Pompeo urges end to Armenia-Azerbaijan fighting but no signs of progress in conflict
- Pompeo held separate meetings with Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers, but there was no meeting between the three
- Azerbaijan’s Jeyhun Bayramove said he is committed to finding a political solution to the conflict and ready to resume talks ‘immediately’
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday urged an end to fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh as he met his counterparts from Azerbaijan and Armenia, but there were no signs of progress.
Pompeo held separate meetings an hour apart with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, but there was no three-way meeting.
Pompeo, who did not speak alongside either minister, “emphasised the need to end the violence and protect civilians”, the State Department said.
He reiterated the US stance that the conflict should be resolved on the principles of “the non-use or threat of force, territorial integrity and the equal rights and self-determination of peoples”.
For his part, Bayramov said he told Pompeo that the “Armenian occupation must end” of Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous region recognised internationally as part of Azerbaijan that is controlled by Armenian separatists backed by Yerevan, Armenia’s capital.