The head of American diplomacy, Anthony Blinken, expressed in Armenia yesterday, Saturday, Washington’s “deep concern” about the fate of the Armenian residents of Nagorno-Karabakh after the lightning attack by the Azerbaijani forces at the beginning of the week and the recapture of the enclave.

In a phone conversation with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Blinken “expressed the deep concern of the US for the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

“He underlined the fact that the US is asking Azerbaijan to protect civilians and respect its obligations regarding the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh and to ensure that its forces respect international humanitarian law,” he added. Miller.

Anthony Blinken held three sessions of peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan aimed at easing tensions in Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave internationally recognized as part of Azeri territory but inhabited mainly by Armenians.

This breakaway region has previously been the scene of two wars between the two former Soviet republics, Azerbaijan and Armenia: one from 1988 to 1994 (30,000 dead) and the other in the fall of 2020 (6,500 dead).

On Tuesday, Baku’s lightning strike forced Armenian separatists to surrender.

Armenia accused Azerbaijan of planning ethnic cleansing, but Baku assured yesterday, Saturday, before the UN General Assembly that it would protect the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.