UN Office in Armenia concerned over increased violations of ceasefire on contact line

In a letter addressed to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the UN Office in Armenia disseminated Thursday  information on Azerbaijan's violating the ceasefire accord on the contact line in the period between November 1 and December 30, 2010.

The authors of the letter particularly state that Azerbaijan continuously abuses the fact of being a UN member-state, not missing the occasion to compromise Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.

Going against the letter and spirit of the negotiations within the Minsk Group (MG) format, as well as the principles enshrined in the UN Charter and the Helsinki Final Act, the Azerbaijani leadership has launched a wide-range xenophobia campaign against Armenia and the Armenians worldwide, posing a serious threat to peace and stability in the region.

Armenia, as well as the Co-chairs of the Minsk Group voice their concerns over the increased rate of illegal border crossing and ceasefire violations on the contact line, which resulted in deaths. Azerbaijan keeps rejecting MG Co-chairs, and the UN Secretary General calls on the country to withdraw snipers from the line. The last appeal was made on December 1, at the OSCE Summit in Astana.

The letter with the enclosed materials has been disseminated as a UN Security Council document.