Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry has refuted Armenian media reports on the latest monitoring of the OSCE on the contact line of Armenian-Azerbaijani troops near the Garadaghli village of Aghdam region.

The Defense Ministry said the information spread by Armenian media that allegedly, during the OSCE monitoring on June 5, Azerbaijan didn’t ensure the due access of OSCE observers to the front line is a lie and disinformation.

The ministry said the observers who participated in the monitoring have great experience and have been engaged in this activity for many years.

“Given that they well know the area, it is impossible to take them to the new coordinates instead of those planned by them,” the ministry underlined.

The ministry went on to say that by spreading such false statements, the Armenian side once again tries to involve the international organization in its provocations, cast shadow on the activities of OSCE observers who carry out the international mission.

It said the OSCE monitoring held on the contact line of the troops ended without incidents and the observers Hristo Hristov and Peter Svedberg expressed gratitude to the Azerbaijani side for the conditions created for carrying out their mission.

Armenian armed forces have several times resorted to provocations during the OSCE monitoring on the contract line of Armenian and Azerbaijani troops. Namely, the Armenian side hampered the planned holding of the monitoring on the contact line of the troops on January 14 and 29.

They also recently increased the ceasefire breaches on the contact line of troops with more than 70 times a day.

Regular ceasefire violations triggered by the Armenian forces have generated much instability, complicating any hope for a fast and peaceful resolution of the conflict. Resorting to armed incursions rather than intensifying efforts towards reaching a peaceful resolution to the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh proves Armenia's reluctance to promoting stability in the region.

Azerbaijan's internationally recognized Nagorno-Karabakh territory has become a conflict zone following Armenia's aggression in the early 1990s. As a result of Armenia's armed invasion, 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory fell under Armenia's occupation.

Large-scale hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire in 1994 but Armenia continued the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal.

Peace talks over the long-lasting Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles. However, as Armenia continues to follow non-constructive position, the negotiations have been largely fruitless so far despite the efforts of the co-chair countries over 20 years.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

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