Armenian Ambassador Calls for OSCE Involvement in Nagorno-Karabakh Crisis

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Armenian Ambassador to Russia Vardan Toganyan expressed the belief that co-chairs of the Organization for Security and Co‑operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk group should quickly react to the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.

"It is up to the Minsk group to make decisions on convening urgently ... However, the situation is clear. Urgent involvement of the co-chairs is needed, and Turkey should stop its aggressive interference in regional affairs," Toganyan said.

Speaking further, the ambassador said that Yerevan currently has no plans to seek any assistance from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in light of the escalation in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The CSTO is an intergovernmental military alliance, comprising Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.

Violent clashes broke out in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh in the early hours of Sunday morning. Both the Azerbaijani and Armenian authorities have accused one another of shelling civilian settlements.

On Sunday evening, the Armenian Defence Ministry said that 16 of its servicemen had died in the clashes, and the government of Yerevan has declared martial law and a full-scale mobilisation.

The international community, including Russia, has urged all parties in the region to cease firing and negotiate to stop the violence.