SEPARATISTS APPEAL TO OSCE AFTER FRONTLINE ACCIDENT

AzerNews Weekly
Dec 22 2009
Azerbaijan

The "foreign ministry" of the self-proclaimed Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh
republic has appealed to the OSCE Chairman-in-Office George Papandreou
over the recent accidental killing of an Azerbaijani woman on the
contact line of the Azerbaijani and Armenian troops.

In a letter, the separatist regime claimed that the woman, who headed
towards the Armenian positions on the frontline close to Azerbaijan’s
Aghdam district on Sunday, was shot dead with fire opened by the
Azerbaijani side, Armenia Today news agency reported.

"This is not the first case of the population forcefully settled in
borderline territories and used for military purposes trying to pass
to the Garabagh side due to unbearable conditions," the self-proclaimed
republic alleged.

It also maintained that the Armenian army had made every effort to
prevent the woman’s tragic death.

Copies of the letter have been sent to Andrzej Kasprzyk, the personal
envoy of the OSCE chairman, as well as the co-chairs of the OSCE
Minsk Group brokering settlement to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict.

The Azerbaijan Defense Ministry spokesman earlier confirmed that
Sadagat Mammadova, a resident of the Aghdam district, died after an
Azerbaijani serviceman accidentally opened fire on Sunday morning. The
soldier has been detained and a scrutiny is underway.