WASHINGTON, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS. The 47th Vice President of the United States and 2020 candidate for President of the United States Joe Biden has issued a statement over the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, calling on the Trump Administration to tell Azerbaijan that the United States will not “tolerate its efforts to impose a military solution.”

“Inexplicably, the Trump Administration has been largely passive, and disengaged, throughout this recent period of escalation,” Biden said.

“I am deeply concerned by the collapse of the October 10 ceasefire and the resumption of fighting in and around Nagorno-Karabakh. Drones, mortars and long-range artillery are claiming hundreds of lives on both sides of the line of contact and displacing thousands of civilians.”

“Since the outbreak of hostilities on September 27, neither President Trump nor Secretary of State Pompeo has placed a single phone call to the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, even as the region goes up in flames,” Biden said, stressing that the United States should get more involved at the highest levels and work with European partners towards de-escalation of the situation and return the sides to negotiations.

“[The Trump Administration] must stop coddling Ankara and tell both Turkey and Iran to stay out of this conflict. Turkey’s provision of arms to Azerbaijan and bellicose rhetoric encouraging a military solution are irresponsible. A diplomatic resolution will not be easy to achieve, but the Trump Administration has an obligation to try. It should do so urgently before more lives are lost and the conflict expands.”

Editing by Stepan Kocharyan