Azernews.Az

The OSCE chief has called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to remove snipers from the contact line of their troops and investigate clashes on the frontline.

In the latest outbreak of violence, five Azerbaijani soldiers were killed on June 5 in shoot-outs between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops, a day after three Armenian soldiers were reported killed in a skirmish.

``Peace is the only option for a settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict,`` Eamon Gilmore, Ireland`s Foreign Minister, told a news conference with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov in Baku on Thursday. ``The parties should refrain from the use of force and violent actions. The time has come to build confidence and trust.``

Azerbaijan and Armenia waged a brutal war in the early 1990s. About 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory, including Nagorno Karabakh, has been under the occupation of Armenian armed forces since a ceasefire was signed in 1994. Peace talks brokered by the United States, Russia and France through the OSCE Minsk Group have been largely fruitless so far.

Mammadyarov, for his part, said peace should be reached soon and the current status quo in the Karabakh conflict is unacceptable.

He said Baku has agreed to create a mechanism for investigating incidents on the Line of Contact, but it could be executed only after a withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from Azerbaijan`s occupied territories.

``If this mechanism begins to be applied now, this would be further strengthening of the current status quo, which is unacceptable,`` Mammadyarov said, adding that after the troop pullout, ``there will be no need`` for snipers on the frontline.

The OSCE chairperson-in-office, in his remarks, also said the OSCE makes all decisions on the basis of consensus.

``This is the only organization in the world with 56 member states which comes to an agreement on the basis of consensus,`` he said.

Gilmore also said the OSCE has outlined clear-cut principles for a peaceful settlement of conflicts.

``That is why we have created a set of principles [on settling the Nagorno Karabakh conflict],`` he said. ``The Karabakh conflict may be resolved on the basis of these principles, which will be agreed with the countries concerned.``

Peace talks are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the OSCE mediators and dubbed the Madrid Principles, also known as Basic Principles. The document envisions a return of the territories surrounding Nagorno Karabakh to Azerbaijani control; determining the final legal status of Nagorno Karabakh; a corridor linking Armenia to the region; and the right of all internally displaced persons to return home.