Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

The U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group has called on the sides of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh problem to refrain from escalation of the conflict.

"The sides of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must focus on finding peace, escalation is in no one's interest," James Warlick wrote in Twitter on January 27.

The situation on the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops has recently escalated. Armenian armed forces have recently violated the ceasefire about 1,000 times.

Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said on January 27 the ceasefire has been violated on the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops in different positions 196 times a day.

The Armenian armed forces fired on the Azerbaijani Armed Forces' positions located in the village of Munjuglu in the Tovuz region from their positions in the village of Aygedzor in Armenia's Berd region last week.

The Azerbaijani positions located in the village of Qizilhajili in the Gazakh region were fired on from the positions located in the village of Berkaber in Armenia's Ijevan region.

The Azerbaijani Armed Forces' positions in the nameless heights of the Gadabay region were fired on from the positions in the nameless heights in Armenia's Krasnoselsk region.

Azerbaijani positions were also fired on from the positions near the villages of Garakhanbayli, Ashagi Veyselli in the Fizuli region, the villages of Marzili, Yusifjanli, Shikhlar, Qaraqashli, Javakhirli and Sarijali in the Agdam region, the villages of Goyarh, Chilayburt, Qizil Oba in the Tartar region, the village of Tapgaragoyunlu in the Goranboy region, the village of Kuropatkino in the Khojavand region, the village of Mehdili in the Jabrail region and the nameless heights in the Goygol region.

The shooting was countered by return fire.

As a result of the unceasing armistice breaches by the Armenian troops, two officers of the Azerbaijani armed forces were killed by a sniper.

Also, a resident of the village near the frontline, was wounded last week, as a result of the Armenian armed forces' shelling of the villages located near the contact line of Armenian and Azerbaijani troops in the Tovuz region.

Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that had caused a lengthy war in the early 1990s.

The UN Security Council's four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal have not been enforced to this day.

Peace talks, mediated by Russia, France and the US and the OSCE Minsk Group are underway on the basis of a peaceful outline -called Madrid Principle-proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs. The negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.