Georgia concerned by armed confrontation on Azerbaijan-Armenia border
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has expressed hope that the recent conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia will be resolved shortly. Photo: RFE/RL (file photo).
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Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has expressed concern over the 12-13 July armed confrontation on the border of neighbouring states Azerbaijan and Armenia, with both sides using artillery, mortar, and tanks in the northern area of their borders.
Zurabishvili said that the armed confrontation, which has claimed the lives of four Azerbaijani soldiers and left several injured on both sides, is a threat to regional peace and stability.
Today, as we all fight an invisible enemy, international solidarity and the maintenance of global stability are of paramount importance. The peace and security of our region is important for the future development and prosperity of Georgia, as well as our friendly and partner states – Azerbaijan and Armenia,” Zurabishvili stated.
She expressed hope that measures will be taken to resolve the conflict.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Azerbaijan and Armenia on Monday to de-escalate their border spat.
Guterres’ spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the UN chief is ‘deeply concerned’ by the tension.
In a statement on July 13, the EU urged both sides to "stop the armed confrontation.’
President Ziurabishvili has responded to recent confrontation between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Photo: president's press office.
The two countries have been locked in a conflict over Azerbaijan's breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh for more than three decades.
But the recent clashes were far from Nagorno-Karabakh and directly between the two nations, which happens very rarely.
The clashes came several days after the Azerbaijani president raised the possibility of a new war with Armenia, stating that peace talks between Baku and Yerevan, mediated by the ‘Minsk Group’ of diplomats from France, Russia, and the United States, have provided no genuine results.
Both sides are trading accusations for the recent confrontation on the border.
Regional peace and stability was the principal subject of a meeting between President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili and Armenia's visiting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Tbilisi on Tuesday.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will visit Georgia tomorrow, the government of Georgia press office reports. An official reception ceremony will be held at the administration building of the government of Georgia in central Tbilisi, with Georgian PM Giorgi Gakharia and Pashinyan meeting face-to-face and then making comments for the media.
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia has congratulated Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on the New Azerbaijan Party’s win in snap parliamentary elections yesterday, Azerbaijani media reports.
Georgian ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili, who currently holds Ukrainian citizenship and an official post in Ukraine, has responded to ongoing hostilities between Azerbaijan and Armenia, stating that disputed Nagorno-Karabakh is the ‘sovereign territory of Azerbaijan.’
Georgian officials are concerned with the recent reports of resumed hostilities between the two neighbouring countries of Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Georgian Foreign Ministry has stated earlier today that the country is ready 'to contribute to de-escalation [of the process] and help establish the peace in the region'.
The Georgian government says that recently published information by Azerbaijani media outlets alleging that mortars were transported and military vehicles may enter Armenia via Georgia is false.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry has dismissed the information spread by Azerbaijani media outlets on the transportation of mortars from Serbia to Armenia via Georgia.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the Zagulba Presidential Palace in Baku today on her first regional trip as president. Zurabishvili stated that the two countries started a new, independent life together after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia has made a statement regarding ongoing hostilities between Azerbaijan and Armenia, stating that ‘it is in our common interest for peace to be restored in the region as quickly as possible. Georgia is ready to facilitate this process in any way, including by hosting a meeting of representatives of the sides of the conflict in Tbilisi for the purpose of holding a dialogue’.