OSCE voices concern over ceasefire violations on frontline
By Sara Rajabova
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) issued its annual report for 2013, touching upon the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The report said under the leadership of the Ukrainian chairmanship, the organization has focused in particular on the resolution of protracted conflicts and pushing forward the Helsinki+40 process towards building a comprehensive, co-operative, and indivisible security community.
The report noted that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is one of the challenging issues that exist today.
The chairmanship expressed support for the Minsk Group co-chairs in promoting dialogue between Azerbaijan and Armenia to settle the conflict, the OSCE report said.
The organization further said the search for a lasting political settlement for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is one of the most complex challenges in the OSCE region.
"More than 20 years have passed since conflict broke out in Nagorno-Karabakh, but a lasting and comprehensive political settlement has yet to be achieved," the OSCE said.
It noted that despite the declaration of a ceasefire in 1994, shooting incidents in the area are frequent, and violations of the ceasefire are reported on an almost daily basis.
"Five civilians and 32 servicemen were reported shot and wounded in 2013 and another 14 servicemen were killed. In that same period, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk's team visited the line of contact 16 times and the border nine times," the report said.
The Armenian armed forces recently wounded a resident of an Azerbaijani village in the Tovuz region located near the frontline.
Earlier, Azerbaijani Defense Ministry reported that most ceasefire violations are observed in the Fizuli, Agdam, Terter, Goranboy, Khojavend, and Jabrayil districts since January 2014. In all the cases, the enemy's shooting was answered by retaliatory fire.
Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts belonging to Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly 1 million were displaced as a result of the war.
Large-scale hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire in 1994, but Armenia has continued the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal.
Peace talks mediated by Russia, France, and the US have produced no results so far.
The OSCE also said its Parliamentary Assembly provided political leadership to seven election observation missions in 2013 in various countries, one of them being Azerbaijan.
The organization also said in line with a Permanent Council decision adopted in July, the office in Baku transformed into the OSCE Project co-ordinator in Baku at the end of the year.
The office has continued its concerted efforts to support Azerbaijan in combating domestic violence, the OSCE report said.
Some two percent or €2.830 million from the organization's budget were allocated to the Baku office in 2013.