3000 CASES OF VIOLATION OF CEASE-FIRE

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[07:43 pm] 26 December, 2008

"There have been over 3000 cases of violation of the cease-fire
regime on the contact line of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijani Armed
Forces this year," said Andranik Mkrtumyan, head of the frontier
representation of the General Staff of RA Armed Forces.

Five people died and 22 servicemen got wounded in the result. A
gross violation of the ceasefire regime by the Azerbaijani side was
registered in the area of Mehrab village, Martakert. Azeris have
applied long-range artillery and bombed our frontier villages, roads
and bridges. Great harms were caused to the agriculture as peasants
are unable to till their lands for fear of being shot dead.

Andranik Mkrtumyan says the OSCE mission has conducted eleven
crisis-monitoring at the contact line but three of them failed
because of the Azeri efforts. Yet, during the monitoring the Armenian
side submitted the mission with the chronicle of the incidents and
unprecedented violations of the ceasefire. They also presented their
observations and notifications.

The Azeri side bombs Armenian villages at any time. We have suggested
the OSCE to help restore the telephone communication between the
military units of Ghazakh and Ijevan so that the commanders can
clear up the problems on the spot. The Azeri side keeps rejecting
this proposal.

We have also suggested monitoring the area of Chinari village, Tavush
marz, as it is one of the vulnerable territories in Armenia.

Six cases of a frontier violation have been reported this year –
two by Armenia and Karabakh and the other four by Azerbaijan. Upon
the mediation of the the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) four civilians, a serviceman and a cadaver were returned to
Armenia in 2008.

They returned the dead soldier 18 days later but we return their dead
servicemen immediately.

Mkrtumyan states the Armenian side has returned two servicemen and one
civilian to Azerbaijan. "Presently, our serviceman Paruyr Sahakyan is
held hostage in Azerbaijan. He was taken hostage on May 25. According
to the Azeri side Sahakyan doesn’t want to return to Armenia. He
has sent no letters to his parents so far. While Azeri serviceman
Rafik Hasanov who is presently in Armenia has already sent a few
letters to his parents. It is due to mention that during a special
television appearance Hasanov announced that he doesn’t want to go
back to Azerbaijan."