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Azerbaijan refutes Armenian media's groundless claims

25 May 2017 18:09 (UTC+04:00)
Azerbaijan refutes Armenian media's groundless claims

By Rashid Shirinov

Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry has accused Armenia of systematic blackmail and slander against international organizations.

The ministry was commenting on the news of Armenian media, which reported that the Azerbaijani side allegedly did not take the OSCE mission to front positions during a monitoring of the 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 region, passed without an incident,” the ministry said.

“The Armenian side, also reported that the monitoring was carried out in accordance with the schedule and that the ceasefire was not violated during the monitoring. They also said the Azerbaijani side allegedly did not take the OSCE mission to the front positions during the monitoring,” the ministry said, stressing that 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.”

The ministry emphasized that Armenia, regularly spreading such slanderous information, pursues the goal of systematically blackmailing the international organizations, trying to cast a shadow on their activity and undermine their credibility.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with 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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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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