“We think outsiders ought to stay out,” Pompeo told the FOX News TV channel late on Thursday. “We’re urging a ceasefire. We want them both to back up.”
“We’ve spoken to the leadership in each of the two countries, asking them to do just that,” he said, referring to Armenia and Azerbaijan. “We’re hopeful that in the days ahead they’ll see that violence won’t resolve the conflicts that are there … and having third parties – other nations – join in that only exacerbates the problem.”
Pompeo did not explicitly point the finger at Turkey or other regional powers when he warned against “internationalization” of the Karabakh conflict.
In a joint statement issued earlier on Thursday, the U.S., Russian and French presidents also called for an “immediate cessation of hostilities.”
“We also call on the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to commit without delay to resuming substantive negotiations, in good faith and without preconditions, under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs,” they said.
The group co-headed by the U.S., Russia and France has long been spearheading international efforts to broker a solution to the Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quick to dismiss the appeal by the three mediating powers, saying that they should instead “demand that the Armenians pull their troops out of Azerbaijan.”
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron continued to accuse Ankara of recruiting jihadist fighters in Syria and sending them to Azerbaijan.
"A red line has been crossed, which is unacceptable," Macron said, speaking after a European Union summit in Brussels. "I urge all NATO partners to face up to the behavior of a NATO member.”
Armenia has likewise alleged that “terrorist fighters” from the Middle East are taking part in the Karabakh conflict on the Azerbaijani side. Turkey and Azerbaijan deny that.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry welcomed on Friday the joint statement issued by Macron and Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. "We welcome the fact that the Minsk Group co-chairs at the level of their leaders reacted to the use of force in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone by way of strong condemnation," it said in a statement.
"We stand ready to engage with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries to reestablish a cease-fire regime based on the 1994-1995 agreements," it added amid continuing heavy fighting along the Armenian-Azerbaijani “line of contact” around Karabakh.
By contrast, Azerbaijan effectively rejected the mediators’ appeal. “In order to stop the violence Armenia must withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh,” said a senior aide to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.