U.S. 'Welcome's Azerbaijan's Position On International Monitoring Mission In Karabakh:  State Dept

Washington D.C./27.09.23/Turan:    The United States 'welcomes' the comments by the Azerbaijani government that it would be open to an international monitoring mission in Nagorno-Karabakh, State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller told TURAN's Washington correspondent during today's briefing.

"That's something that the Secretary [Blinken] had directly pushed the President [Aliyev] for, and we're glad to see him having agreed to it," Miller said.

He went on to add, "we will work with our allies and partners in the coming days to flesh out exactly what that mission will look like"

Miller also noted that the USAID administrator Samantha Power and Acting Assistant Secretary Yuri Kim are currently traveling in Azerbaijan, where they "stressed a number of things, the same things that the Secretary stressed in his conversation with President Aliyev yesterday"

The Spokesperson went on to elaborate "... Number one, we want to see the ceasefire maintained. Number two, we want to see humanitarian needs addressed. That means keeping the Lachin corridor open. It means ensuring that humanitarian supplies can come in. And that it means an international monitoring mission to ensure that humanitarian needs are addressed.``

Ultimately, Miller said, the U.S wants "to see is a return to the negotiating table where they can ultimately reach a dignified, lasting peace."

When asked by TURAN about the state of peace talks, the spokesperson said that Washiington has been 'pushing' for negotiations.

"The Secretary has been having direct conversations with the president of Azerbaijan, the Prime Minister of Armenia... We've had a number of officials traveled to the region not just in the past week or ten days since hostilities broke out... But going back months and months and months we have done everything we can to pursue diplomacy."

He then added: "Remember, it's up to the two parties here who are the parties that have direct disagreements. We can do everything we can to push them. But ultimately they have to agree to talk and they have to agree to come to some resolution. That's what we're going to do is continue to play our part to facilitate that."

TURAN also asked Miller about the role of Russia in the latest situation.

"Certainly, I do not think Russia has played a productive role here in the past week," Miller said.

He concluded: "There have been times where they [Russia] facilitated negotiations, and that was something that we welcomed. But certainly in the last week their role has not been productive in this situation"

Alex Raufoglu