Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister said when analyzing the processes at the contact line of the Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, one can see that the situation has remained tense.

"Azerbaijan supports the continuation of the current negotiations on specific issues," Elmar Mammadyarov said in a briefing on February 4.

He noted that these issues have been discussed with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs who will leave for Yerevan with a number of proposals.

"If we see the Armenian side showing a constructive reaction, the negotiations may continue," he added.

Commenting on the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs visit to the region Mammadyarov noted that concrete issues were discussed during the recent meetings, including the Paris meeting.

The co-chairs started their visit to the region on February 3 from Azerbaijan.

"Later, the co-chairs will leave for Yerevan. If any results are achieved on these issues in Yerevan, a new meeting can be held at the level of ministers or presidents," Mammadyarov said.

He also said Azerbaijan intends to continue negotiations to achieve progress in resolving the Karabakh conflict.

"The sooner the work on a comprehensive peace agreement is started, the more favorable it will be for the region," he said.

The situation on the contact line between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops has remained tense since mid-January. Armenian armed forces have recently violated the ceasefire over 2,000 times, killing two Azerbaijani army officers and wounding one civilian.

Most ceasefire violations are being observed in the Fizuli, Agdam, Terter, Goranboy, Khojavand, and Jabrail regions, Azerbaijani Defense Ministry spokesman Vagif Dargahli said earlier.

International organizations and some foreign countries have voiced concern over the armistice breaches on the frontline.

Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk said in his interview with Trend Agency that the casualties and ceasefire violations on the line of contact and the border are cause for concern.

Kasprzyk said every casualty is a tragedy that can be avoided if the ceasefire is fully respected.

"I and my team have experienced this recent growth in tensions first-hand during our recent monitoring exercises, when shots were fired in spite of the fact that local commanders on both sides, using OSCE radio equipment, provided security guarantees to our teams with a clear undertaking that troops under their command would honor the ceasefire for the duration of the monitoring exercise," Kasprzyk said.

Earlier, Armenian armed forces fired on the Azerbaijani divisions and the OSCE monitoring group members, who arrived in the contact line on January 23 to monitor the ceasefire violations under the mandate of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Personal Representative.

Kasprzyk said the responsibility of respecting the ceasefire rests with the sides.

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 and dubbed the Madrid Principles. The negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.