 "Switzerland ready to host high-level meetings between Armenia, Azerbaijan")
The Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) said on Monday that Switzerland supported the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs' efforts aimed at resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through dialogue and expressed readiness to host high-level meetings between Armenia and Azerbaijan on its neutral territory.
"Switzerland reminds both sides to uphold their obligations under international law, in particular, to protect the civilian population. As there is no alternative to a peaceful solution of the conflict, substantive negotiations must be resumed immediately and without preconditions. Switzerland fully supports the efforts of the Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group towards a negotiated conflict solution and is ready to host meetings at the highest level, as has been done in the past," the FDFA said in a statement.
The diplomatic department also called on the warring sides to end the use of force in the disputed area.
Since 1991, Armenia and Azerbaijan have been waging an ongoing conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian-majority autonomy that proclaimed independence from what was the Soviet Azerbaijan Republic at the time.
Tensions intensified in the breakaway region on Sunday morning, with both sides accusing each other of carrying out provocations. Armenia and the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh republic declared martial law and general mobilization, while Azerbaijan declared partial martial law and partial mobilization. Azerbaijan has closed its airports to all international air traffic except for Turkey, which has pledged its support to Baku.