Wednesday, July 30 2014

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) representatives met on 26 July with the two Azeris detained by the Armenian side, received their letters to families and are discussing the transfer of the body of the third man to the family, Andrzej Kasprzyk, Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, says in an interview with APA.

APA quotes Andrzej Kasprzyk as saying, "The Personal Representative is following this case closely in permanent contact with the ICRC. It is informing the Chairmanship of the OSCE and the Co-chairs of the Minsk Group on the related developments." 

"On 22 July, in Brussels, the Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group met separately with the ministers of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and Azerbaijan.  They expressed their serious concern about the increase in tensions and violence, including the targeted killings of civilians, along the LOC and the Armenian-Azerbaijani border" They urged the parties to commit themselves to avoiding casualties and rejected the deliberate targeting of villages and the civilian population. They called on the Foreign Ministers to defuse tensions and adhere to the terms of the ceasefire", he says.   "The Personal Representative is ready to assist in any way possible to stop the cease-fire violations.  He is offering the chance for local commanders to talk directly to each other using OSCE radius during monitoring and clarify issues of their concern, or to support any measures that the parties might consider useful to implement to lower the number of such incidents", says Kasprzyk.

He also points out that during the recent meetings with the Foreign Ministers "the Co-chairs discussed possible agenda items for a presidential summit, underscoring the importance of a meeting between the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan for achieving progress in peace negotiations".