Monitoring on Armenian-Azerbaijani contact line expected

Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov.17 By Ilkin Izzet – Trend: The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is expected to monitor the contact line of the Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Nov.18, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said Nov.17. The monitoring will be held under the mandate of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative, on the contact line located near the village of Merzili of Azerbaijan's Aghdam district, the ministry said. On the Azerbaijani side, the monitoring will be carried out by field assistants of OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative, Jiri Aberle, Simon Tiller, Peter Svedberg and Head of the OSCE High-Level Planning Group, Markus Widmer. On the opposite side, the monitoring will be conducted by OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Personal Representative Andrzej Kasprzyk and his field assistants Hristo Hristov, Yevgeny Sharov and representative of OSCE High-Level Planning Group Vitaly Belokon (Russia). The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions. Edited by SI Follow us on Twitter @TRENDNewsAgency