French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday, October 17, greeted a humanitarian truce between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Karabakh conflict zone.
“The President of the Republic welcomes the humanitarian truce announced tonight jointly by Armenia and Azerbaijan after the French mediation held in recent days and hours in coordination with the co-chairs of the Minsk Group,” RIA Novosti quotes the French leader’s communique.
Macron also stressed that this ceasefire must be unconditional and strictly observed by both sides.
The truce will take effect at midnight on October 18 (October 17, 23:00 Moscow time). The Foreign Ministries of Armenia and Azerbaijan noted that such a decision was made in accordance with the statement of the presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries.
On October 1, the presidents of Russia, the United States and France, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron, issued a joint statement on Karabakh. The leaders condemned the escalation of violence in the region, expressed condolences to the families of the victims and called on the parties to the conflict to immediately end hostilities.
The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh escalated on September 27. Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other of shelling and death among the military and civilians.
The conflict in Karabakh began in February 1988, when the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its secession from the Azerbaijan SSR. In the course of the armed confrontation in 1992-1994, Azerbaijan lost control over the region and seven adjacent regions.