Interfax - Russia & CIS Military Newswire Monday 6:36 PM MSK Aliyev views exacerbation of tensions in Karabakh as reason for speeding up settlement talks (Part 2) BAKU. June 19 The latest incidents on the contact line between the conflicting parties in Nagorno-Karabakh prove the need to accelerate settlement negotiations, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said. "Azerbaijan is committed to observing the ceasefire. However, Armenia carried out a military provocation on the contact line prior to your visit to the region. The Azerbaijani Armed Forces gave an adequate response, the outcome of which is known," Aliyev said at a meeting with the OSCE Minsk Group's co-chairs from Russia, France, and the United States in Baku on Monday. Certain tensions persist on the contact line lately, Aliyev said. "It is an important factor for accelerating the negotiating process," he said. He accused Yerevan of provocations on the frontline. "The Armenian side had carried out another military provocation against Azerbaijan, which led to the death of an Azerbaijani serviceman, following your visit to Armenia and the occupied Azerbaijani territories and prior to your visit to Azerbaijan," the president said. The Armenian side always resorts to such provocations prior to holding any important event or the OSCE co-chairs' visit, he said. These actions of Yerevan are aimed at blaming Baku for violating the ceasefire, Aliyev said. "They accuse us of anything, including ceasefire violations. But one only has to look at the chronology to see when the Armenian Armed Forces had killed an Azerbaijani serviceman, and when Azerbaijan gave an adequate response to it. Therefore, responsibility for the latest ceasefire violation on the frontline rests with the Armenian leadership, and the Armenian Armed Forces are accountable for any consequences," Aliyev said. The recent events proved that Armenia is trying to interfere with activities of the OSCE Minsk Group's co-chairs, he said. "Armenia is trying to shift focus only to the security issues and is using the events happening as a reason to accuse Azerbaijan of breaching the ceasefire. It is entirely unjust stance," he said. Russian co-chair Igor Popov, for his part, expressed the negotiating process mediators' concern over serious ceasefire violations in the Karabakh settlement zone. "We will report this situation in the statement adopted following the visit," he said. U.S. co-chair Richard Hogland and French co-chair Stefan Visconti, as well as Personal Representative of OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk, also expressed their views on the negotiation process. "At the meeting, the parties expressed their views on the emerging situation and prospects of the Karabakh settlement," the Azerbaijani presidential website said. Tensions on the contact line in Karabakh have exacerbated over the past week. Conflicting parties reported causalities among servicemen.