Iraq praises new Nagorno-Karabakh truce in meeting with Azerbaijani representatives

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A senior Iraqi parliamentary official praised Armenia and Azerbaijan's second truce agreement to end bloody conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, in a meeting with Baku diplomatic representatives on Sunday.

Parliament's first deputy speaker Hassan Karim al-Kaabi met in Baghdad with Nasir Mammadov, Azerbaijan's charge d'affaires in Iraq.

Kaabi "praised the decision to cease fire with Armenia for humanitarian reasons, which began this morning in order to evacuate the population from the conflict areas," read a statement published by his press office on Sunday.

Speaking to Rudaw on Monday, Mammadov said Iraq would soon be taking an official stance on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"We still have not received anything – any statement from Iraqi official side," Mammadov said. "But I think we will get Iraq's official position very soon."

Deadly fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh reignited on September 27, and has so far killed an estimated 700 people on both sides.

The two countries yesterday agreed to a ceasefire to take effect at 8 pm GMT on Saturday. The deal followed a short-lived ceasefire agreed to last week.

Saturday's agreement came after a missile struck the major Azerbaijani city of Ganja, killing 13 people.

However, Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other of violating the new ceasefire just hours later.

Iraqi foreign minister Fuad Hussein spoke to his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov on October 2, calling for the two countries to "return to the negotiating table" and end the conflict.

In an apparent move towards strengthening relations between the two countries, Sunday's meeting also saw the Iraqi and Azerbaijani representatives "push forward the activation of more than 15 memoranda of understanding in the political, economic, commercial, health, cultural and other fields."