Azernews.Az

BAKU – OSCE mediators brokering settlement to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict discussed ways of investigating skirmishes on the line of contact of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops during their visits to Baku, Yerevan and Khankandi, the center of the self-proclaimed Nagorno Karabakh republic, the Russian co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group has said.

Igor Popov was quoted by Novosti Armenii news agency as saying late Wednesday that the scrutiny of incidents on the frontline was envisioned in the joint statement signed at the March 5 meeting of the Azerbaijani, Armenian and Russian leaders in Sochi.

"This was a timely statement," Popov told reporters in Khankandi. "According to the existing practices, a monitoring mission usually heads to the site of incidents. But such missions have not always been able to yield tangible result, therefore, we have discussed issues of developing a mechanism for such scrutinies."

According to Popov, the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents have stated their views on working out such a mechanism.

"We intend to sum up the sides’ proposals and ultimately work out a mechanism…which will serve as an incentive for strengthening confidence-building measures between the conflict parties."

Popov also said the Minsk Group co-chairs plan to visit all territories affected by the Karabakh conflict.

The Russian mediator and his counterparts - Bernard Fassier of France and Robert Bradtke of the United States – held talks with Azerbaijani leaders on Tuesday and further met officials in Yerevan and visited Azerbaijan’s occupied Nagorno Karabakh region on Wednesday. During the visits the co-chairs submitted to the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents the report on their last year’s mission assessing the situation in the Armenia-occupied territories. The gist of the report was not elaborated.

The fact-finding mission of the Minsk Group co-chairs visited the occupied territories surrounding Nagorno Karabakh on October 7-13, 2010 on Baku’s initiative. Three technical experts, including two from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), assisted them in their tasks.

French mediator Bernard Fassier told the press in Khankandi that the co-chairs will submit a report to the representatives of the Minsk Group’s member states in Vienna next week. He did not give details of the document.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a brutal war that ended with the signing of a fragile cease-fire in 1994. About 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory has been occupied by Armenian armed forces since then. Peace talks have largely accomplished no result so far. Sporadic clashes on the frontline continue. Frontline skirmishes killed more than 20 soldiers in 2010.

The status of the Nagorno Karabakh region has been a stumbling block in peace talks. Baku says the occupied districts must be freed and Azerbaijani refugees returned home, and only after that could the status of Nagorno Karabakh be determined within Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, while Armenia insists that self-determination is the core principle for a settlement of the dispute. The mediators are seeking a solution based simultaneously on both principles.