OSCE to monitor contact line today

According to an agreement with Artsakh authorities, today OSCE is set to conduct a regular monitoring on Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijan armed forces’ contact line, to the south-east of the populated area of Kuropatkino, Martuni region, NKR Foreign Ministry website reported.

From NKR defense positions the monitoring will be conducted by Personal Representative of OSCE Charman-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk. The group also includes Field Assistants to Personal Representative of OSCE Chairman-in-Office Antal Herdich (Hungary) and Hristo Hristov (Bulgaria).

OSCE Office Coordinator, Lieutenant-Colonel Imre Palatinus (Hungary) and Field Assistant to Personal Representative of OSCE Chairman-in-Office Zhaslan Nurtazin (Kazakhstan) will monitor the contact line from Azerbaijani side.

The Nagorno-Karabakh (armed) conflict broke out back in 1991, when, subsequent to the demand for self-determination of the Nagorno-Karabakh people, Azerbaijani authorities attempted to resolve the issue through ethnic cleansings, carried out by Soviet security forces (KGB special units) under the pretext of the implementation of the passport regime and by launching of large-scale military operations, which left thousands dead and caused considerable material damage. A cease-fire agreement was established in 1994. Negotiations on the settlement of the conflict are being conducted under the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen (Russia, USA, France) and on the basis of their Madrid proposals, presented in November, 2007.

Azerbaijan has not yet implemented the 4 resolutions of the UN Security Council adopted in 1993, by continuing to provoke arms race in the region and openly violating on of the basic principles of the international law non-use of force or threat of force.