OSCE PA to mull Armenian provocations
By Laman Ismayilova
The winter session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly scheduled for February in Vienna will focus on recent intensified provocations committed by the Armenian servicemen at Azerbaijan's state border.
Deputy Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament, head of the Azerbaijani delegation to the OSCE PA Bahar Muradova announced about this while talking to Azertac.
Muradova underlined Armenia's enhancing provocative acts at Azerbaijan's state border since late 2016. "The Armenian reconnaissance-raiding group attempted to commit subversions at Azerbaijan's state border for several times,” she added.
The MP said that the Armenian side's provocations will be discussed on the sidelines of the OSCE PA winter session and representatives of the PA will be requested to express their views on the issue.
"As the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Austria calls for the resolution of the conflicts must be highly valued. If these calls turn into real impacts and decisions, then it will significantly contribute to the settlement of the conflicts," Bahar Muradova said.
One of Austria’s main priorities in the OSCE will be the collective work in the security field, aimed to avoid escalation of conflicts in the OSCE countries’ territories, said Austria’s Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz during his inaugural address to the OSCE Permanent Council as the new OSCE chairperson-in-office
Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.
While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign State with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years.
Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region.
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