This article was originally published in Russian on
ria.ru
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On the 20th of July, the press officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the unrecognized Republic of Nagorno Karabakh announced that the OSCE would send out a patrol to monitor the line of contact between Nagorno Karabakh and the Azerbaijani armed forces on the 21st of July:
“According to the agreement reached with the Nagorno Karabakh authorities, the OSCE mission will send out a patrol to monitor the boundary line between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijani armed forces, north of Martakert.”
Defense authorities of the the NKR “expressed their readiness to contribute to the safety of the members of the monitoring mission of the OSCE”, the press officer said. The mission on the Nagorno Karabakh side will be lead by the field assistant of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman Hristo Hristov (Bulgaria) and the assistant of LPDP Simon Tiller (United Kingdom).
The Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan announced that “the monitoring of the territory controlled by the Azerbaijani armed forces will be conducted by field assistants of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman Irji Aberle (Czech Republic) and Peter Svedberg (Sweden).”.
The previous monitoring of the boundary line in Karabakh was conducted by the OSCE on July 15.
Armenia and Azerbaijan, on April 2, have declared the aggravation of the situation in the Karabakh conflict zone. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry, in particular, reported shelling by the armed forces of Armenia, while the Armenian Defense Ministry announced “offensive operations” from the Azerbaijani side. Both parties of the conflict, on April 5, announced a cease-fire. Both sides accuse each other of continuing attacks.
The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh began in February 1988, when the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijani SSR. In September 1991, in Stepanakert – the center of Nagorno-Karabakh – the establishment of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic was announced. The Azerbaijani authorities during the subsequent military conflict have lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh. The negotiations on the peaceful settlement of the conflict have been held by the OSCE Minsk Group since 1992. Azerbaijan insists on preserving its territorial integrity, whereas Armenia would like to protect the interests of the breakaway republic, as Karabakh is not a part of the negotiations.
