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OSCE Minsk Group concerned over loss of life on border

22 July 2014 18:13 (UTC+04:00)
OSCE Minsk Group concerned over loss of life on border

By Sara Rajabova

The U.S. co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group voiced concern over the high tension on the contact line of Armenian and Azerbaijani troops.

"We are concerned about any loss of life on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border and the line of contact," James Warlick told Trend news agency.

He further commented on the capture of Azerbaijanis by Armenians in Azerbaijan's occupied Kalbajar region, as well as the reports by the Armenian media about the murder of one Azerbaijani.

"The number of incidents and resulting deaths and injuries is also a setback in our efforts to work with parties to find a lasting peace," Warlick said.

Three Azerbaijani civilians (reportedly Russian citizen Dilgam Ahmadov and Azerbaijani citizens Shahbaz Guliyev and Hasan Hasanov) were detained by Armenian forces in early July.

Armenia violated the international legal norms by taking hostage the Azerbaijani civilians as they didn't violate any border law between Armenia and Azerbaijan. They were on their own native Kalbajar region which has been under Armenia's occupation since 1993.

He noted that the U.S. and the Minsk Group co-chairs are committed to helping the sides find a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, stressing there is no military solution to this conflict.

Warlick went on to add that the co-chairs look forward to meeting with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian in Brussels on July 22 to discuss the next steps towards solution of the conflict.

"We hope that both presidents will accept the invitation to a summit in Paris. We witnessed that progress is possible when the presidents met in Vienna last November and believe that a continuation of that discussion is an important step in progress towards peace. The co-chairs and the U.S. stand ready to help in any way we can," Warlick said.

For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions.

A fragile ceasefire has been in place since 1994, but long-standing efforts by U.S., Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on its pullout from the neighboring country's territories.

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