OSCE to monitor contact line near Horadiz

The OSCE will monitor the Nagorno-Karabakh contact line south of the city of Horadiz of Azerbaijan’s Fuzuli district under the mandate of the OSCE chairperson-in-office's personal representative on July 15, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said.

On the Azerbaijani side, the monitoring will be carried out by the personal representative’s field assistants, Jiri Aberle, Simon Tiller and representative of the High-Level Planning Group (HLPG), Lieutenant-colonel Dan Harvey.

On the opposite side, the monitoring will be conducted by the personal representative’s field assistants, Hristo Hristov, Peter Svedverg and head of the HLPG, Colonel Hans Lampalzer.

Recall, on the night of April 2 all frontier positions of Azerbaijan were exposed to heavy fire from large-caliber weapons, mortars, grenade launchers and guns. In addition, Azerbaijani settlements near the front line, densely populated by civilians, were shelled.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20% of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US, are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.