OSCE upcoming chair, Edi Rama calls for a ceasefire on the Armenia-Azerbaijan front line

Edi Rama

 The Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, in the capacity of the next chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), has reacted to the recent clashes on the Armenia-Azerbaijan front line, calling for the return of the ceasefire and the resumption of negotiations.

The official announcement published by the Albanian Presidency of the OSCE states that noting the dramatic increase in violence and reports on civilian casualties, the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Prime Minister and Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of Albania, Edi Rama, called to urgently calm the situation.

"I urge all those involved to immediately return to the ceasefire before the human losses of this conflict increase further," Rama stressed.

"Rama noted that the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and the Personal Representative of the Chairman-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, have been in close contact with the parties. Rama fully supports their efforts to stabilize the situation on the ground and reiterated that "There is no alternative to a negotiated peaceful solution to the conflict. He underlined his support for the co-chairs' efforts to resume substantive negotiations without preconditions as soon as possible," the statement said.

According to the announcement, Rama also expressed his condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the recent clashes.

Clashes on the Armenia-Azerbaijan front line began in the early hours of Sunday morning after Armenian forces opened fire on Azerbaijani civilian settlements. Meanwhile, the Azerbaijani army launched a counterattack and liberated several settlements from the occupation.