Georgian president proposes 'peace platform' to Armenian, Azerbaijani leaders

Georgian President Salome Zurabishili has expressed her willingness to assist in resolving the dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia by offering a platform to the two countries' leaders to negotiate peace in Tbilisi.

"I would like to appeal to the presidents and authorities of Armenia and Azerbaijan to re-establish the dialogue within the shortest possible timeframes. Let us make a call for reducing the escalation and ending fire. We are ready to make our country, [its capital] Tbilisi, a place, where any negotiations will be possible to conduct. We are ready to do everything that the sides will be willing," TASS.ru quotes her as saying after a security council meeting.

Zurabishvili also appealed to the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, emphasizing their great role in the conflict settlement. She also requested the EU's intervention in reaching a ceasefire, noting that all the three countries in the Caucuses are participants of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) program.

"Our stability and peace in this region are of interest to the European Union. It must invest its efforts in peace and stabilization of the situation," she added.

Azerbaijan launched the large-scale offensives along the Line of Contact on Sunday morning (September 27), targeting also civilians of Nagorno-Karabakh. As of Friday evening (October 3), the Artsakh defense forces were reported to have shot down 17 war helicopters, 17 warplanes (four Su-25 jet aircrafts), 113 UAVs, 250 units of armored vehicles (mainly tanks), 82 transport vehicles, 10 armored personnel carriers and multiple rocket launchers (one unit of TOS-1A, two units of BM-30 Smerch and one unit of BM-27 Uragan).

Azerbaijan has lost over 3,000 troops. Armenia reported 158 losses as of Friday afternoon; over 200 servicemen are known to have been wounded in the clashes.

Azerbaijan expanded the aggression also to Armenia's territory earlier this week, striking civilian and military infrastructures. Two civilians were killed in the Gegharkunik region. Eleven civilian casualties were reported in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Azerbaijani offensives also left several journalists wounded (representing both the local and foreign media). Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh have declared martial law and a general mobilization.