Artsakh President Meets with Mediator

Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakian meets with Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk in Stepanakert, Feb. 6, 2014.

STEPANAKERT (Armenpress)—Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakian on Thursday met with Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, the president’s press office reported.
 
The two discussed the current status of Karabakh conflict settlement negotiations and its prospects.

President Sahakian also referred to the Azeri cease fire violations along the Karabakh-Azerbaijan border during the meeting.

On Friday, in accordance with the agreement reached with the authorities of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, the OSCE mission conducted a planned monitoring of the “line of contact” between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan in the Hadrut region near the Horadiz settlement.

From the side of the Karabakh Defense Army, the monitoring was conducted by Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk and his field assistants Yevgeny Sharov (Ukraine) and Khristo Khristov (Bulgaria).

From the opposite side, the monitoring was conducted by field assistants Jiri Aberle (Czech Republic) and William Pryor (Great Britain).

The monitoring passed in accordance with the agreed schedule. No violation of the cease-fire regime was registered. However, the Azeri side did not lead the OSCE mission to its front-lines.

From the Karabakh side, the monitoring mission was accompanied by representatives of the Karabakh Republic’s Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense.

The Armenian Ministry of Defense has refuted recent reports in Azeri media that an Azerbaijani soldier was killed by Armenian snipers.

“Let the Azerbaijani side examine the situation inside its army to understand the reason of frequent losses. Azerbaijan awards medals to soldiers, killed because of internal problems, for fighting against Armenians in an attempt to conceal the real condition of their army. The Armenian side has nothing to do with the death of the Azerbaijani soldier,” Spokesman for the Armenian Ministry of Defense Artsrun Hovhannisyan said in comments to Armenpress.

Spokesman for the Artsakh Ministry of Defense Senor Hasratyan told News.am that the subdivisions of the Armenian and Artsakh armies are committed to the maintenance of the ceasefire regime. “The Armed Forces of Nagorno Karabakh never incite incidents at the line of contact,” he said.

Baku said on Friday that one of its soldiers had been shot dead by Armenian forces. “Azerbaijani army serviceman Eshgin Guliyev died as a result of a ceasefire violation on Thursday,” Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.