OSCE to monitor contact line between Azerbaijani, Armenian armies

Monitoring will be held on the contact line between Armenian and Azerbaijani armed forces in the north-west of the Kurapatkino village in the Khojavand region of Azerbaijan on July 14. The monitoring will be held under a mandate of the OSCE chairman special envoy, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry reported.

The monitoring will be held on the Azerbaijani side by OSCE Chairman-in-Office Personal Representative Andrzej Kasprzyk's field assistants William Pryor and Antal Herdich, and OSCE's High-Level Planning Group representative Alexander Nepokritix.

The monitoring will be held on the opposite side, which the international community recognizes as Azerbaijani territory, by OSCE Chairman-in-Office Personal Representative Andrzej Kasprzyk's field assistants Jaslan Nurtazin and OSCE's High-Level Planning Group representative Fergus Hannon.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. - are currently holding the peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the occupied territories.


/Trend/