In Paris, scores of pro-Armenian demonstrators united together near the Turkish embassy on Thursday, October 8 to protest against Ankara for supporting Azerbaijan in a full-fledged conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in clashes over the disputed region since the last week of September. 

Chairman of the Coordinating Council for Armenian Organizations in France, Mourad Papazian, told Associated Press: “President Emmanuel Macron, the UN Security Council and the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) have demanded a ceasefire but Azerbaijan and Turkey want to push forward and this is unacceptable”. 

OSCE calls upon international community

In addition to this, the pro-Armenian demonstrators called upon the international community to take actions such as imposing sanctions and deployment of peacekeeping forces. As per reports, the protesters took out a rally and held placards carrying messages that read “Stop Erdogan” and “Stop Azerbaijani Aggression.” Some of them also waved Armenian flags, the reports added. 

Azerbaijan and Armenia have been at loggerheads since July this year with both sides reporting casualties. However, on September 27 the border clashes turned into a major escalation. On October 5, Canada suspended its drone technology export to Turkey over allegations that Ankara is supplying them to Azerbaijan, which in turn is being used in the conflict in the South Caucasus region. 

Meanwhile, the United Nations and the international community has urged both Azerbaijan and Armenia to resolve the issue peacefully. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to take immediate steps to establish a ceasefire and start negotiations to prevent a major conflict from breaking out in the region. 

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been fighting over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region since 1988. In 1994 a Russia-brokered ceasefire agreement was signed between both the countries but numerous violations have occurred since then.