The United States calls for installing "a lasting peace" between Armenia and Azerbaijan

MADRID, 20 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Armenia and Azerbaijan on Monday to install a "lasting peace" to resolve their differences through diplomacy.

"There is no military solution to the differences between Armenia and Azerbaijan. But I believe there is a path to lasting peace that resolves the differences through diplomacy," Blinken said in a statement released by the State Department.

The head of US diplomacy has assured that the United States "is willing to do everything possible" in order to support efforts to preserve peace, while offering condolences to the families and friends of the people who have been killed during the recent clash between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

"We are encouraged by the fact that the fighting has ceased and there have been no further military actions in recent days," Blinken added, according to the letter.

These statements took place after the Secretary of State met with his counterparts, the Armenian Ararat Mirzoián and the Azerbaijani Jeyhun Bayrámov in a large hotel in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Armenia and Azerbaijan staged a confrontation in 2020 to take control of Nagorno Karabakh, a territory with a majority Armenian population that has been a focus of conflict since it decided to separate in 1988 from the Azerbaijan region integrated into the Soviet Union.

Hostilities between the two countries lasted for six weeks and left thousands dead. They finally ceased when the two countries reached a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement, allowing Russian peacekeepers to settle in Nagorno-Karabakh for a period of five years.

However, on September 13 both countries exchanged accusations about new attacks on the common border. The latest clashes have resulted in the death of around 207 Armenian soldiers and 80 Azeri soldiers, according to official figures.