OSCE to monitor contact line between Azerbaijani, Armenian armies

Posted by

OSCE plans to hold a monitoring on the contact line between Armenian and Azerbaijani armed forces, which are located near the Fuzuli-Horadiz road in Azerbaijan’s Fuzuli region on Nov. 10. The monitoring will be held under a mandate of the special envoy of the OSCE chairperson, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry reported to the Trend News.

OSCE Chairman-in-Office Personal Representative field assistants Pieter Ki and Irji Aberli will hold the monitoring on the Azerbaijani side. OSCE Chairman-in-Office Personal Representative Andrzej Kasprzyk’s field assistants Imre Palatinus, Vladimir Chountulov and Jaslan Nurtazin will hold the monitoring on the opposite side, which the international community recognizes as Azerbaijani territory.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan lost all of Nagorno-Karabakh except for Shusha and Khojali in December 1991. In 1992-93, Armenian armed forces occupied Shusha, Khojali and 7 districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. – are currently holding the peace negotiations.

The OSCE regularly holds monitoring on troop’s contact line to secure ceasefire.