SHOOTING INTERRUPTS OSCE KARABAKH MONITORING
EurasiaNet.org
Oct 22 2013
October 22, 2013 – 3:27am, by Joshua Kucera
The monitoring mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe had to suspend its activities last week because of an as-yet
unexplained shooting:
Following the usual exchange of security guarantees by local commanders
on both sides of the Line of Contact, members of both OSCE teams
heard shooting as they approached their observation points. It was
not possible to determine from where the shots were fired. Safety
and security concerns prompted the Personal Representative to abandon
the exercise.
Naturally, both sides blamed the other. Azerbaijan’s APA reported:
The Armenians violated ceasefire while the contact line was
being monitored by the Personal Representative of the OSCE
Chairman-in-Office.
Defense Ministry Spokesman Eldar Sabiroghlu told APA that today the
Armenian Army units violated ceasefire..
And the de facto Nagorno Karabakh Foreign Ministry claimed:
A planned monitoring of the Line of Contact between the armed forces of
Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan to be conducted by the OSCE Mission in
the Hadrut direction, scheduled for October 17, was stopped because
of the submachine gun shots from the Azerbaijani side towards the
positions of the NKR Defense Army.
OSCE press officer Tatyana Baeva tells The Bug Pit that this is the
first such incident since February 2009. She added that the OSCE
doesn’t have a mandate to investigate who fired the shots, but that
the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed in 2011 “to try to
investigate possible incidents with the participation of the sides,
under the aegis of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs and with the support of
the Personal Representative,” She added: “This agreement has yet to be
implemented” and that “the Co-Chairs and Personal Representative can
and do encourage the sides to investigate such incidents thoroughly
and impartially themselves.” Of course, if Armenia and Azerbaijan
are known for anything it’s impartiality on Karabakh. Anyway, given
the recent heightened tension between the two countries, the line of
contact probably can use as much monitoring as it can get.