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 August 9, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said Aug. 8.

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

On the Azerbaijani side, the monitoring will be held by Andrzej Kasprzyk, ambassador and the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative, and Mikhail Olaru, field assistant of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative.

On the Azerbaijani territories occupied and controlled by Armenian armed forces, the monitoring will be held by Ghenadie Petrica, Ognjen Jovic and Martin Schuster, who are 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.