As an international media service available in many languages and offices all over the world, Sputnik faced an unusual dilemma when the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict broke out last week: Sputnik offices in Azerbaijan and Armenia found themselves to be on opposite sides of the barricades.
But journalists from Azerbaijan and Armenia united and came up with a banner that promotes a peaceful settlement to the conflict. They know that despite disagreements between the two governments, they will stay true to their profession and promote honest reporting of all the events developing in the South Caucasus.
"Sputnik is a global multimedia project. Our large journalist family speaks Russian, English, French, Arabic, Armenian, Azeri and many other languages. Sputnik offices in Baku and Yerevan are reporting on the events in Nagorno-Karabakh from opposite sides of the barricades, but it doesn't make us enemies. We're doing our professional duty and urging both sides of the conflict to sit down at the negotiations table! By clicking on a banner you will support the end of military action and the beginning of a negotiation process," the banner said.
Earlier in the day, a ceasefire came into force between the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and Azerbaijan, following five days of clashes that led to fatal casualties on both sides.
Hostilities in the mountainous Caucasus region have allegedly killed dozens of Armenians and Azeris since the frozen conflict flared up again on April 2.
Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but is controlled by ethnic Armenians. It was at the heart of an Azeri-Armenian war in the early 1990s that ended in a Russia-mediated ceasefire in 1994.
