Members of the OSCE Minks Group. (Source: Armenpress)
YEREVAN(Public Radio of Armenia) — Special Representative of the German Government for the OSCE Chairmanship Gernot Erler, together with the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Ambassadors Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, James Warlick of the United States of America, and Piee Andrieu of France, reiterated today their strong commitment to a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
“To achieve progress in the peace process, it is imperative that the sides take all measures to avoid violence, particularly violence that affects the civilian population living along the Line of Contact and the Armenia-Azerbaijan border. In that regard, we support the statement of the Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, who called on the sides to strictly respect the ceasefire during the holidays of Novruz Bayram and Easter. We urge the sides to create the conditions for the people of the region to celebrate these holidays in peace.
The Co-Chairs, with the support of the German OSCE Chairmanship, will continue the work with the sides on elements of a settlement, measures to reduce the risk of violence, and programs that promote people-to-people contacts.”
The statements made by members of the OSCE came after a weekend filled with very high tensions at the line of contact between the armed forces of Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan.
The Azerbaijani side fired more than 2,400 shots from weapons of different caliber in the direction of the Armenian positions over the weekend, according to the Artsakh Defense Ministry.
The Azerbaijani side used artillery weapons such as well as 60 and 82 mm mortars in the southern, southeastern and northern directions of the line of contact.
The Artsakh Ministry of Defense said in a statement that the Defense Army keeps control of the situation along the line of contact, while trying to prevent any provocative action of the Azerbaijani side.
Source: Asbarez
Link: Minsk Group Calls for Peace During Holidays