Baku, Azerbaijan, May 25
Trend:
Armenia’s blackmail and slander against international organizations is systematic, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry told Trend May 25.
The ministry was commenting on the news spread by the Armenian media that the Azerbaijani side allegedly did not take the OSCE mission to front positions during a monitoring of contact line between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops.
“The OSCE mission has officially confirmed that the monitoring, held under the mandate of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative in Azerbaijan’s Tartar District, passed without an incident,” the ministry said.
“The Armenian side too reported that the monitoring was carried out in accordance with the schedule and that the ceasefire was not violated during the monitoring,” the ministry said. “They also said the Azerbaijani side allegedly did not take the OSCE mission to the front positions during the monitoring.”
The Defense Ministry said such provocative news was also spread after the monitoring held on March 1.
“Once again we state that in accordance with the monitoring mechanism, international observers contact the sides of the conflict in advance and determine the date, place to be monitored and other details,” the ministry said. “Field assistants of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative confirm that the monitoring has been held. If any of the sides creates problems during the monitoring, the observers will first spread such information.”
“Regularly spreading such slanderous information, Armenia pursues the goal of systematically blackmailing the international organizations, trying to cast a shadow on their activity and undermine their credibility.”
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 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.