STEPANAKERT (Combined Sources)–Azeri Armed Forces fired at Nagorno-Karabakh Republic border units late Saturday night, attempting to infiltrate the south-eastern border in Fizuli in clear violation of the cease-fire agreement, reported the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Foreign Ministry.
The operation, which continued until the early hours of Sunday morning, was rebuffed by the Nagorno -Karabakh Armed Forces, which successfully forced the Azeris to retreat. As a result the Azeri forces sustained one fatality.
That body of the Azerbaijani soldier, 20-year-old Orkhan Shamilov, was transferred Wednesday from Nagorno Karabakh and handed over to the Azerbaijani authorities. The transfer took place at Aghdam under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), ICRC Media Relations Unit reported.
The Karabakh foreign ministry on Monday had notified the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairmen and the personal representative of the OSCE Chairman in Office, urging an immediate crisis monitoring mission at the site of the incident.
The foreign ministry emphasized that the cease fire violation took place during the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairmen’s visit to Karabakh as part of their conflict resolution effort in the region. The ministry also stressed that a declaration signed on Nov. 2 in Moscow clearly articulated the willingness of all sides to reach a political resolution and denounced military operations.
The foreign ministry also noted that this was not the first attempt by Azeri forces to violate the cease fire agreement, adding that the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic leadership, on countless occasions, has urged the international community to take immediate measures to strengthen the cease fire to ensure stability and peace.
“Taking into consideration official Baku’s destructive approach, which, unfortunately, has not received the proper political assessment by international mediators, the [Karabakh Foreign] Ministry places the responsibility for the possible escalation of tension on the contact line entirely upon the leadership of Azerbaijan,” read the foreign ministry statement.
The OSCE will hold a crisis monitoring mission near the Fizuli region.
The Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk told a press conference Monday that the monitoring will take place in the near future after a mutual agreement is reached.
According to Kasprzyk, it will be a crisis monitoring, since the cease-fire violation resulted in a human loss.
The Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office and his five assistants conduct monitoring twice a month to ensure that such cases do not hamper the negotiations. The recurrent monitoring at the contact line of the Armed Forces of Armenia and Azerbaijan will be conducted on November 19.
