The US is quite serious about an international mission for Nagorno Karabakh, Spokesperson for the US Department of State Matthew Miller said at a briefing with journalists.
“We think the international mission is important because it relates to all of the other questions about humanitarian assistance, about humanitarian needs in the region. We are so serious about the international mission that the Secretary raised it in his call with President Aliyev, pressed him to support an international mission. You may have seen that the Azerbaijani Government came out yesterday and said that they do support an international mission, and in fact in their statement said one of the reasons they are supporting it is because they have been pushed to support it by the United States,” the Spokesperson said.
“So we are quite clear on it. We’re working with our allies and partners on what the best mechanism to effectuate that is. But we think it’s important to provide transparency and to assure that humanitarian needs are being addressed on the ground,” he said.
He said discussions are under way with a number of allies and partners in the region.
“Both under what auspices that mission would be launched, who would participate, what its scope would be, what it would look like – all those things are under discussion. So I don’t want to make any kind of before we’ve nailed down the details. But it is a matter we are working on,” Miller stated.
He emphasized that the US continues to be greatly concerned about the humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. “We think it’s important that residents of Nagorno-Karabakh be able to make the decision to leave if they want to leave and to be able to return if they want to return. It’s a decision that they all have to make as individuals, but we think it’s important that they be able to make that decision for themselves. And we think there ought to be unhindered humanitarian access to the region to make sure that populations in need can get the support that they require,” Miller stated.
