ArmInfo.The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Stephane Visconti of France, and Andrew Schofer of the United States of America)?, released the following statement today:
''According to reports from the Ministries of Defence of Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as other sources, on 12-13 July there was a serious breach of the ceasefire on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, resulting in casualties. Artillery of various calibers reportedly was used by both forces.
The Co-Chairs and Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-office (PRCIO) Andrzej Kasprzyk regret the loss of life and offer their condolences to the families of those who were killed and injured. The Co-Chairs and PRCiO have been in direct contact with Armenian and Azerbaijani officials since the beginning of the incident.
The sides have accused each other of initiating the fighting. The Minsk Group Co-Chairs condemn the recent ceasefire violations and call upon the sides to take all necessary measures to prevent any further escalation, including by use of the existing direct communication channels between them.
The Minsk Group Co-Chairs also call on the sides to resume substantive negotiations as soon as possible and emphasize the importance of returning OSCE monitors to the region as soon as circumstances allow.
To note, yesterday at about around 12:30 pm, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, for reasons unknown to the Armenian side, attempted to violate the state border of the Republic of Armenia in the Tavush direction by <UAZ> car. After the Armenian side warned them, the enemy troops left the "UAZ" car, returned to their positions. At 1:45 pm, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, using artillery fire, tried to capture the Armenian stronghold, but were thrown back by the fire, incurring loss of manpower. There are no losses from the Armenian side. At the evening, the enemy resumed shelling of Armenian positions, in the direction of a strong point that had not previously been captured. All night the Azerbaijani Armed Forces fired intensively using 82 mm mortars and tanks at the aforementioned strong point. As it became known, in the morning, after two or three hours of calm, the enemy resumed provocative actions at the Armenian- Azerbaijani state border in the Tavush direction, and continued shelling of Armenian positions.
The Armenian side warned the enemy that all responsibility for further aggravation of the situation would fall on the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan. According to an official statement of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Azerbaijan, during the incident yesterday, three servicemen of the Azerbaijani army were killed and four were injured. But, the media is already circulating information about 17 killed Azerbaijani soldiers.
Due to the aggravation of the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, caused by the events of July 12 this year by clashes in the Tavush direction, the CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas initiated holding of the emergency meeting of the CSTO Permanent Council on July 13. This is stated in the message of the CSTO press service.
It is also worth noting that in this situation, the Turkish side took an active position, expressing unconditional support for Baku, which were reflected in two statements by the Turkish Foreign Ministry. Moreover, the second statement was made by the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on the air of TRT Haber. He noted that Turkey, using all the opportunities, will support Azerbaijan. "Let Armenia come to its sense," Cavusoglu said.