OSCE TO MONITOR ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN TROOPS CONTACT LINE
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TREND Information
20.10.08 11:07
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan, Baku, 20 October /Trend News corr E.Huseynli/ Monitoring of
the Armenia-Azerbaijan troops contact line nearby Gulustan village in
the Goranboy region of Azerbaijan will be conducted in conformity with
the mandate of the OSCE chairman-in-office’s personal representative
on 22 October, 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 sides are still holding peace negotiations. The
OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by Russia, France and the United States
is the intermediary in peace settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. For preservation of ceasefire OSCE regularly monitors the
troops contact line.
On the Azerbaijan side the monitoring was conducted by OSCE
Chairman-in-office’s personal representative Andrzej Kasprzyk and
his field assistants Peter Ki and Vladimir Chontulov.
On the opposite side of the line, which was recognized at international
level as Azerbaijan’s territory, the monitoring was held by Imre
Palatinus, Antal Herdich and Irji Aberle, field assistants of the
OSCE Chairman-in-office’s personal representative.