Azerbaijan Again Skips another OSCE Monitoring of Frontlines
Armenia’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday slammed Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov for making what it called “damaging” statements, when he remarked last week in Washington that shootings along the Artsakh-Azerbaijan border should not become an obstacle to substantive talks for the resolution of the Karabakh conflict. Thus far, the incidents on the line of contact have always been spurred by Azerbaijan.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Anna Naghdalyan said Wednesday that during last week’s talks in Washington, Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Mammdyarov discussed steps that can be taken to stabilize the situation along the border that is aggravated because of Azerbaijan’s actions. Naghdalyan also added that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs called for the sides to take immediate steps to restore a conducive atmosphere to establish peace and preserve the cease-fire, and made clear proposals regarding humanitarian sphere and risk reduction.

“The disinformation by Azerbaijan on issues beyond the discussed frameworks suggests that Azerbaijan does not intend to implement these proposals and the calls by the co-chairs. Moreover, the allegations that the negotiations can be successfully conducted under conditions of regular violation of the cease-fire regime cause significant damage to the negotiations and are disrupting the peace process,” said Naghdalyan.

“The claims by the Azerbaijani foreign minister do not correspond to the truth. This is an unconstructive approach which devalues the seriousness of the peace process,” added Naghdalyan.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan on Wednesday, once again, skipped a scheduled ceasefire monitoring mission of the OSCE, making the third consecutive instance that Azerbaijan fails to lead the monitoring from its side of the border.

According the Artsakh Foreign Ministry, the OSCE monitoring was completed based on the intended schedule.