OSCE to monitor Azerbaijani, Armenian troops’ contact line

By  Trend

The OSCE is expected to monitor the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops on May 4, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry reported on May 3.

The monitoring will be held under the mandate of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative in Azerbaijan’s Aghdam district, the ministry said.

On the Azerbaijani side and on the Azerbaijani territories occupied and controlled by Armenian armed forces, the monitoring will be held by Andrzej Kasprzyk, OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative, as well as Gennady Petrica and Martin Schuster, field assistants of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.