EU concerned about Azerbaijan’s violation of ceasefire

“The European Union is concerned over latest incidents at the line of contact,” said EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby, referring to Azerbaijan’s recent violations of ceasefire accord with Nagorno Karabakh. 

“We are concerned about incidents at the line of contact,” said Semneby, who is on a visit to Azerbaijan. He expressed his readiness to discuss the Karabakh issue and added that a good direction is necessary to capture the attention to peaceful talks.

“Surely, I want to discuss the Karabakh issue. We hope the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs will put forward towards investigation of the issue and will push the process towards peaceful development,” said Semneby.

Azerbaijan has been frequently attacking Nagorno Karabakh since recent times violating its ceasefire accord with Armenia. The diversionary attacks of the armed forces of Azerbaijan resulted in casualties: there were reported killed and wounded soldiers.

The latest deadly incident occurred in the morning of September 4 at 6:50 am in the northern-eastern direction of the line of contact between Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh (some two kilometers to the east from Jraberd settlement).

The Karabakh conflict broke out in 1991, when Armenian population of Nagorno Karabakh -- the historical Armenia, remapped during Soviet-era times in interest of Azerbaijan, -- demanded on self-determination. In response to this rightful claim, the authorities of Azerbaijan tried to take control of the situation by launching deadly massacres and ethnic cleanings against civil Armenians and by launching large-scale military operations, which left thousands dead and caused considerable material damage.

A cease-fire accord between the two sides was signed in 1994.

Currently, the OSCE Minsk Group is mediating the settlement to the Karabakh conflict. It has delivered the Madrid document of November of 2007 containing proposals how to solve the issue.

Azerbaijan hasn’t yet implemented 4 resolutions of the UN Security Council adopted in 1993, and continues provoking arms race in the region, thus, violating the basic principles of the international law on non-use of force and war threats.