OSCE MONITORS TROOPS CONTACT LINE

Trend News Agency
June 2 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, 2 June /Trend News corr G. Jabiyev/ According to the
mandate of the personal representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office,
on 3 June a monitoring will be held at the troops contact line nearby
Mazamli village in Gazakh region of Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani
Defence Ministry reported to Trend News.

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 Khojali, in December
1991. In 1992-93, Armenian Armed Forces occupied Shusha, Khojali 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.

For the preservation of ceasefire, OSCE regularly monitors the troops
contact line.

On the Azerbaijan side, the monitoring will be held by assistants of
the OSCE Chairman-in-office’s personal representative Antal Herdich
and Irji Aberle.

On the opposite side of the line, which is recognized at international
level as Azerbaijan’s territory, the monitoring will be held by
Imre Palatinus and Vladimir Chontulov, assistants of the OSCE
Chairman-in-office’s personal representative.