Azernews.Az

By Gulgiz Muradova

High ranking political leaders from different countries have offered their support to the activity of the OSCE Minsk Group, established to mediate between the parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office said in an interview with Azernews newspaper.

With regards to criticism in the address of the OSCE MG, Kasprzyk said co-chairs are informed in detail about the developments around the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“The Chairmanship of the OSCE is paying constant attention and is informed in detail about developments. The Chairperson-in-Office, Dr Steinmeier, visited the region and the resolution of the conflict was high on the agenda of his trip. The CiO and other high ranking political leaders from different countries have offered their support to the activity of the MG,” he said in an e-mail, further mentioning that the conflict is a frequent subject of public debate in other international organizations besides the OSCE.

Kasprzyk emphasized that the co-chairs are involved in this mediation activity on a daily basis.

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.

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.

Kasprzyk, commenting on the armistice between the sides on the frontline, said that his office follows the situation on a daily basis.

“According to information obtained and from our own observations, from the end of May 2016 the situation along the front lines has been relatively stable, though there were still reports about ceasefire violations and, regrettably, recently about casualties. Every casualty is a tragedy and causes grief and sorrow for the family and friends of the deceased. I share these sorrows,” he said , adding that “the ceasefire will only hold based on the political will of the parties.”

“Finally, I would like to stress that the monitoring exercises are not investigations, nor are they a peacekeeping measure. They provide a ‘snapshot’, an effective and consistent way of accessing information regarding the situation on the ground. With the support of the sides, we will continue our activity,” he continued.

As for the expansion of the Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Kasprzyk said that his mandate and the modalities of work of his Office would be unaffected.

The OSCE mission regularly holds monitoring on the contact line of Armenian and Azerbaijani troops, but it failed to regulate accurately the situation since the first days of its activity.

The frequent ceasefire violations occur almost every day, causing great hardship for the people living near the frontline, as they can't live their normal everyday lives and are always under a threat. Persistent shootings by the Armenian forces lead to casualties, even deaths among the civilian Azerbaijani population.

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