OSCE MONITORS CONTACT LINE OF AZERBAIJANI, ARMENIAN TROOPS

Trend News Agency
Feb 14 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Barda, 14 February / Trend News corr Sh. Jalaloglu / No
incidents were reported during the monitoring held on 14 February
at the contact line of the Azerbaijani and Armenian troops near
the Tapgaragoyunlu village in the Azerbaijani Goranboy region,
in compliance with the mandate of the OSCE Chair’s Personal
Representative. The monitoring took about an hour.

The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began
in 1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan lost the Nagorno-Karabakh, except of Shusha and Khojaly,
in December 1991. In 1992-93, Armenian Armed Forces occupied Shusha,
Khojaly and Nagorno-Karabakh’s seven surrounding regions. In 1994,
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time
the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group
( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding peaceful, but
fruitless negotiations.

On the Azerbaijan side the monitoring was held by the OSCE
Chairman-in-office’s personal representative Andrzej Kasprzyk and
his assistants Imre Palatinus and Jaslan Nurtazin.

On the Armenian side the monitoring was held by personal representative
assistants in Armenia, Antal Herdich and Miroslav Vimetal.