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President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan is now having a meeting with Ambassadors of OSCE member-states to Armenia in his residence, according to reports from the President’s press service.

Այս պահին ՀՀ Նախագահը հանդիպում է ԵԱՀԿ անդամ երկրների դեսպանների հետ։ #KarabakhNOW #NKpeace pic.twitter.com/V4y8nDp6gI

— Narek Nikoghosyan (@NNarek) April 4, 2016

Speaking at the National Security Council meeting late in the evening of April 2, President Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia confirmed that Defense Army had 18 servicemen killed and 35 wounded in the “unprecedented” Azerbaijani offensive. President Sargsyan also praised the professionalism of the Defense Army of Nagorno Karabakh Republic demonstrated during the combat operations in response to the Azerbaijani large-scale offensive, saying their decisions have been “timely, necessary and correct”.

“However, we should make a step further. I think the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should cooperate with the Foreign Ministry of Nagorno Karabakh aimed at concluding a bilateral treaty on mutual military assistance. We should draft the text of the treaty, hold relevant discussions and send it to the National Assembly. The Republic of Armenia will fully fulfill its responsibility to protect the security of the people of Nagorno Karabakh, and we have also the legal rights for that, since we are a party to the 1994 ceasefire agreement,” the President concluded.

The UN Security Council adopted four resolutions between April and November, 1993, calling for “effective and permanent” ceasefire, as well as “immediate implementation of the reciprocal and urgent steps” in that direction.

Peace talks between Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan have been facilitated by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe since March 1992 within the frameworks of so-called Minsk Group, co-Chaired by Russia, United States and France since mid-1990s.

Ceasefire agreement between Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan, facilitated by Russia's representative to the CSCE/OSCE Minsk Group Vladimir Kazimirov, was signed on May 5, 1994, which had been maintained with only sporadic violations along the Line of Contact and international border till the latest Azerbaijani large scale offensive in the night of April 2, 2016.

Over the last two years Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh, the OSCE Minsk Group co-Chairs and over 80 U.S. Congressmen proposed (Royce-Engel bill) concrete measures to de-escalate situation and establish ceasefire monitoring equipments along the borders. Azerbaijan has been repeatedly rejecting these calls.