EU, Canada also Urge a ‘Negotiated’ Resolution to the Standoff

The United States is closely monitoring the situation on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and expects Azerbaijan to immediately pull back its forces and “cease further provocation,” State Department spokeswoman Jalina Porter said on Friday during her daily briefing.

Porter was responding to a question from Laura Kelly, a correspondent for The Hill, who asked about the tense standoff on the Armenian border and questioned the State Department official about whether the Biden Administration is considering revoking the waiver of Section 907, which was announced last month by Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

While Porter said there was nothing to announce about Section 907, she said that the State Department was “closely monitoring the situation along the de-marked border between Armenia and Azerbaijan.”

“Military movements in disputed territories are irresponsible, and they’re also unnecessarily provocative,” said Porter. “And of course we’ve seen the reports of some withdrawal and would welcome that, if confirmed, but we expect that Azerbaijan to pull back all forces immediately and cease further provocation.”

“We’ve also urged both sides to approach demarcation issues through discussion as well as negotiation,” added Porter.

The European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrel on Friday said that the EU is “following closely the worrying developments along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border.”

“On my behalf, Secretary General of the European External Action Service Stefano Sannino, spoke to Foreign Minister of Armenia Ara Aivazian on Thursday and to Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov this Friday, calling on both sides to exercise the utmost restraint and de-escalate the situation. EU Special Representative Toivo Klaar has also been in contact with the OSCE Chairmanship in Office,” Borrel said.

He emphasized that border delimitation and demarcation must be resolved through negotiations, for the benefit of the security of the local populations. “We welcome ongoing contacts at the technical level between the two sides.”

“The EU continues to support a comprehensive settlement of the conflict and encourages both countries to find peaceful solutions preserving stability in the region.,” the High Representative stated.

In a Twitter post, Canada’s Foreign Minister Marc Garneau said on Friday that his country is concerned by reports of “rising tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan with reports of an incursion into Armenian territory.”

“We urge all parties to respect the ceasefire agreement achieved on November 10 fully and to continue to negotiate a permanent and peaceful settlement. All actions that would undermine the ceasefire and escalate tensions must be stopped,” Garneau added.