OSCE mission holds scheduled monitoring of line of contact in Askeran direction

YEREVAN, July 11. /ARKA/. On July 11, in accordance with the agreement with the authorities of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, the OSCE Mission held scheduled monitoring of the Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijani armed forces' line of contact in the Askeran direction.

During the monitoring the OSCE MG Co-Chairs Igor Popov (Russia), Robert Bradtke (USA), Jacques Faure (France) and Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzey Kasprzyk, crossed the contact line in the section previously cleared of mines. 

From the positions of the NKR Defense Army, the monitoring group comprised Field Assistants of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Antal Herdich (Hungary) and Irjie Aberle (Czech Republic).

On the opposite side, the monitoring was conducted by Field Assistants of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Personal Representative Hristo Hristov (Bulgaria) and William Prior (Great Britain).

From the Karabakh party, the monitoring mission was accompanied by representatives of the NKR Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense.

The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh broke out in 1988 after the predominantly Armenian-populated enclave declared about secession from Azerbaijan As Azerbaijan declared its independence from the Soviet Union and removed the powers held by the enclave's government, the Armenian majority voted in 1991, December 10, to secede from Azerbaijan and in the process proclaimed the enclave the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Full-scale fighting, initiated by Azerbaijan, erupted in the late winter of 1992. International mediation by several groups including Europe's OSCE’s failed to bring an end resolution that both sides could work with. In the spring of 1993, Armenian forces captured regions outside the enclave itself. By the end of the war in 1994, the Armenians were in full control of most of the enclave and also held and currently control seven regions beyond the administrative borders of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Almost 1 million people on both sides have been displaced as a result of the conflict. A Russian- -brokered ceasefire was signed in May 1994 and peace talks, mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group, have been held ever since by Armenia and Azerbaijan.--0--