Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan.27
Trend:
The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Serbia's Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic expressed concern at recent developments on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the line of contact of Azerbaijani and Armenian armies.
""I would like to urge the sides to ensure a full cessation of hostilities as stipulated in the May 1994 agreement," he said. "I deplore the upsurge in acts of violence resulting in loss of lives, and I call on the sides to demonstrate responsibility and avoid steps that would lead to further escalation."
He said the contacts between presidents and at other levels, remain central to progress, and must be underpinned by a full ceasefire and cessation of hostilities.
"The meetings in 2014 between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Sochi, Newport and Paris were positive steps in the right direction," he said.
Dacic added that OSCE continues to facilitate direct contacts, but it is the parties alone who can and must enforce a ceasefire.
He reaffirmed support for the Personal Representative Andrzej Kasprzyk, who is charged with encouraging direct contact, and with helping the parties develop and implement new and much needed confidence-building measures.
"I also strongly support the joint efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, especially those aiming at strengthening the ceasefire and developing a common basis for negotiations," he said. "I encourage the parties to make full use of the OSCE toolbox and to take measurable steps towards a peaceful and lasting settlement."
Secretary General Lamberto Zannier expressed full support for the Chairman-in-Office's statement and called on both sides to re-engage in the political process led by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said that all the responsibility for the tense situation on the line of contact of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops rests entirely on Armenia, an invader state, which violated international law principles and norms and the UN Charter.
The presence of the Armenian armed forces on the territories of Azerbaijan creates tension that threatens regional stability and security, said Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.
The purposeful provocative actions of Armenia aimed at the aggravation of the situation, hinder the settlement of the conflict and are aimed at maintaining the status quo, said the ministry.
Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said that Armenia tries to aggravate the situation on the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops and blame it on the opposite side.
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 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 the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.