The United States Held Separate Talks with Karabakh Conflict Parties

State Secretary Mike Pompeo received the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan Mnatsakanyan and Bayramov in Washington. Pompeo stated a "difficult diplomatic situation" occurring. US State Secretary Mike Pompeo held separate talks in Washington with both sides of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on Friday, October 23. Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Jeyhun Bayramov have previously ruled out the possibility of a trilateral meeting. Before talks began, Pompeo cooled off hopes for a breakthrough, noting that the ceasefire agreements agreed so far in Karabakh are not being respected. "This is a difficult diplomatic situation," he told reporters. Until now, Russia has played a particularly active role as a mediator in Karabakh, while the United States preferred remaining neutral. Both Russia and the United States, along with France are co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group for assistance aimed at resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Armenia and Azerbaijan accuse each other The Armenian Foreign Ministry stated that during the Pompeo and Mnatsakanyan meeting, the need to fulfill the ceasefire agreements and continue the peace process under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group was confirmed. The report of the Armenian Foreign Ministry noted that the minister "informed the US State Secretary about Azerbaijan’s war crimes and deliberate attacks" on the peaceful population of Nagorno-Karabakh. Mnatsakanyan stated as well that Azerbaijan is conducting an operation in Karabakh "with Turkey’s direct participation in," which brings "terrorists armed by it" into the region. For its part, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said that the head of the department, Bayramov, informed Pompeo in detail about "the destructive policy of the Armenian side, aimed shooting at the peaceful population of Azerbaijan, massive recruitment of foreign mercenaries and other issues." Bayramov also stressed that Azerbaijan's position is based on four UN Security Council resolutions. The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh escalated sharply in late September, when Azerbaijan launched a large-scale operation to return the region to Baku's control. Since then, hundreds of people have been killed and wounded, including civilians.