American reality TV celebrity Kim Kardashian West, spouse of US rapper, Kanye West, on Sunday called on Azerbaijan to stop “all offensive uses of force” against the Armenian people in the wake military clashes between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
The US media personality, who is of Armenian descent, also called on Washington to “cut off” all military aid to Baku. In the meanwhile, she warned Turkey “to stop sending arms & fighters” to the conflict zone in support of the Azerbaijani side. She also called on the international community to take ”political and diplomatic measures to prevent unnecessary escalation & tragedy”.
“Call upon Baku to cease all offensive uses of force, cut off all US military aid to #Azerbaijan being used against Armenians & warn #Turkey to stop sending arms & fighters to Baku,” Kardashian wrote in a series of tweets on Sunday. “We need international observers to investigate & call for international political and diplomatic measures to prevent unnecessary escalation & tragedy.”
Kardashian said that “Armenia has been the victim of unprovoked attacks by Azerbaijan”, claiming that the attacks are accompanied by a “predictable disinformation campaign”.
“Azerbaijan is blocking social media except for war propaganda,” she insisted.
The contact line of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, an Armenian-majority autonomy that proclaimed independence from what was then the Soviet Azerbaijan Republic in 1991, saw military escalation on early Sunday.
Both the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides accuse each other of igniting hostilities in the region, which has been the subject of dispute between Yerevan and Baku since the late 1980s when the two nations were Soviet republics.
Azerbaijan said it has launched what it described as a “counteroffensive” after Armenia’s armed forces allegedly opened fire at settlements along the line in Nagorno-Karabakh, resulting in casualties among the civilian population.
The Armenian government dismissed the allegations, claiming that it was the Azerbaijani military which had launched an offensive in the direction of the disputed region.
On Sunday, US President Donald Trump said that Washington will "see if we can stop" the flare-up of tensions in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. In the meanwhile, the State Department warned that the involvement of any external party would be “deeply unhelpful and only exacerbate regional tensions.”
On Sunday, Turkey condemned “Armenia’s attack on Azerbaijan”, saying that it stands in “full solidarity” with Baku.
Later in the day, Armenia announced that its Defence Ministry was probing the veracity of reports that Azerbaijan solicited services of Syrian militants to fight in Nagorno-Karabakh.