Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

The recent ceasefire violations on the contact line between Armenian and Azerbaijan troops have sparked concerns among states and international bodies.

Head of the EU representative office to Azerbaijan Malena Mard said the body regrets the situation on the contact line between Armenian and Azerbaijan troops.

Mard said the EU is closely watching the situation. She also said the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was discussed with the Azerbaijani side during the recent visit of EU Special representative for the South Caucasus Philippe Lefort to Azerbaijan.

Mard said the OSCE Minsk Group deals with the conflict settlement. She noted the EU is ready to listen to the mediators' demands and both sides' proposals on the conflict settlement.

Meanwhile, French ambassador to Azerbaijan Pascal Monnier said France wants a sustainable peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, commenting on the situation on the border line.

Monnier also said that France, which is one of the OSCE MG co-chair states, welcomed a recent meeting between the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Vienna.

He stressed that the parties to the conflict should abandon provocative acts which aggravate the situation.

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

Warlick said the sides of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must focus on finding peace because escalation of conflict is in no one's interest.

Recently the situation on the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops has escalated. In recent days the Armenian armed forces violated ceasefire over 1000 times.

The Ministry said on January 29 the ceasefire has been violated on the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops in different positions 250 times a day.

As a result of the unceasing armistice breaches by the Armenian troops, two officers of the Azerbaijani armed forces have been 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.

The intensified ceasefire violations hinder the ongoing peace process over the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Secretary-General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland also voiced concerns over the unresolved conflict while addressing the PACE winter session on January 28.

"We, in the Council of Europe should rely on the processes for the settlement of the conflict. If we stand on anybody' side in the conflict, it will distance us from its settlement," Jagland said.

He added the OSCE Minsk Group deals with the settlement of the Nagorno-krabkh conflict.

"None of the parties to the conflict had invited us to take any action. We are facing a very big dilemma. We can act only when the parties adress us. If they and other major actors in Europe want it, we will be able to participate," Jagland said.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since a lengthy war in the early 1990s that displaced over one million Azerbaijanis, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.

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 U.S. through the OSCE Minsk Group are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs dubbed the Madrid Principles. The negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.