In his fourth announcement on the war that broke out between Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh on September 27 Biden also stressed that Washington should be leading a diplomatic effort to end the fighting.
“Following the collapse of the ceasefire announced by Secretary of State [Mike] Pompeo on October 25, a large-scale humanitarian disaster is looming for the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, who have already suffered too much and need to have their security protected. After a month of fighting, it is long past time for President Trump to directly engage the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey to push for immediate de-escalation and stop the advance of Azerbaijani troops into Nagorno-Karabakh,” Biden said on Wednesday.
He also called on the administration to enforce Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act that bans direct aid to Azerbaijan, including military aid.
“While he brags about his deal-making skills at campaign rallies, Trump has yet to get involved personally to stop this war. The administration must fully implement and not waive requirements under section 907 of the Freedom Support Act to stop the flow of military equipment to Azerbaijan, and call on Turkey and Russia to stop fueling the conflict with the supply of weapons and, in the case of Turkey, mercenaries,” said Biden.
“The United States should be leading a diplomatic effort to end the fighting, together with our European partners, and push for international humanitarian assistance to end the suffering; under my administration that is exactly what we will do,” pledged Biden.
The Trump administration brokered a short-lived ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan when the two countries’ foreign ministers visited Washington late last week.
The third Armenian-Azerbaijani ceasefire during the current hostilities collapsed within hours after entering into force on the morning of October 26. The next day, President Trump himself acknowledged that the ceasefire was not holding. According to Reuters, Trump expressed optimism that the two sides will work things out but offered no other details.
The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan are expected to hold meetings with the three co-chairs of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Minsk Group representing the United States, Russia and France in Geneva, Switzerland, later today to discuss ways of de-escalating the fighting in which hundreds of lives on both sides have already been lost.