Repeated gunfire during a routine crossing forces OSCE monitors to take cover.
International mediators of the Karabakh Conflict issued a press statement on October 29 about their recent visit to the region and a potential meeting of the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Ambassadors Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, James Warlick of the United States of America, and Pierre Andrieu of France, including Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, traveled to the region October 26-28 and met with the Presidents and Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as the authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh.
In the statement, the Co-Chairs said that President Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia and President Ilham Aliyiev of Azerbaijan confirmed that they will take part in the summit by the end of 2015.
“We stressed to the Presidents the dangers of violence along the Line of Contact and Armenia-Azerbaijan border. The use of heavy weapons, such as mortars and rocket launchers, is unacceptable and presents a serious danger to the civilian population. We deeply regret the casualties and loss of life among innocent civilians and expect the sides to take every step to avoid violence. We raised existing proposals designed to stabilize the security situation and create a more constructive atmosphere for negotiations,” the statement read.
The Co-Chairs said that dialogue among all the parties to the conflict is essential to peace and that programs encouraging contact between Armenians and Azerbaijanis would be welcomed. The Co-Chairs also held a meeting with the representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross while in Yerevan “to discuss the implementation of a data exchange on missing persons, a humanitarian measure we fully support.”
During a routine crossing of the Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijan Line of Contact, repeated gunfire from “an undetermined location” forced OSCE monitors to take cover. In the statement, the Co-Chairs stressed that the sides had made an obligation to guarantee the safety of monitoring personnel and the shooting represented “a deliberate effort to undermine progress towards a settlement. It also underscores the need for the OSCE to have the ability to investigate violations of the ceasefire.”
Ambassador James Warlick, the U.S. Co-Chair tweeted that repeated gunfire during the routine crossing was unacceptable.
During our Line of Contact crossing, repeated gunfire forced @OSCE monitors to take cover. This is unacceptable. pic.twitter.com/ctH10pufHA
— James Warlick (@AmbJamesWarlick) October 27, 2015
