Serzh Sargsyan: Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh in favor of halting armed hostilities, robust monitoring mandate required from the OSCE
“[To begin with] Azerbaijan waged this offensive… We expect all countries that have stakes in the regional peace to clearly demand explanations from Baku about the armed attacks. Statements expressing concerns over the situation and calls for ceasefire that we heard in the past few days from leaders of many states and international organisations are not efficient so long as they are not addressed to the party that triggered the armed hostilities”, - said President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan in an emergency meeting with the ambassadors of the OSCE Member-States in Armenia, held today, April 4 around 1:00PM Yerevan time.
According to the press statement from the Office of the President, Serzh Sargsyan laid out three main messages, which he said he “would like to be delivered to the capitals [of OSCE Member-States].
“Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh are in favor of halting the armed hostilities and strictly observing the 1994 ceasefire regime, with all military units returning to the areas of their previous positions as of April 1, 2016. In order to maintain the ceasefire, the OSCE shall come up with stabilizing measures, including the introduction of ceasefire violations investigation mechanism and a more robust monitoring mandate for the Personal Representative of the Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE”, - Serzh Sargsyan said in his statement.
The UN Security Council adopted four resolutions between April and November, 1993, calling for “effective and permanent” ceasefire, as well as “immediate implementation of the reciprocal and urgent steps” in that direction.
Peace talks between Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan have been facilitated by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe since March 1992 within the frameworks of so-called Minsk Group, co-Chaired by Russia, United States and France since mid-1990s.
Ceasefire agreement between Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan, facilitated by Russia's representative to the CSCE/OSCE Minsk Group Vladimir Kazimirov, was signed on May 5, 1994, which had been maintained with only sporadic violations along the Line of Contact and international border till the latest Azerbaijani large scale offensive in the night of April 2, 2016.
Over the last two years Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh, the OSCE Minsk Group co-Chairs and over 80 U.S. Congressmen proposed (Royce-Engel bill) concrete measures to de-escalate situation and establish ceasefire monitoring equipments along the borders. Azerbaijan has been repeatedly rejecting these calls.