OSCE is expected to monitor the contact line between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops March 17, Azerbaijani Defense Ministry told Trend March 16.

It is planned to hold the monitoring under the mandate of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative on the contact line near the village of Mezem of Azerbaijan’s Gazakh district, the ministry said.

On the Azerbaijani side, the monitoring will be carried out by the field assistants of OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative Hristo Hristov, Peter Svedberg and Simon Tiller.

On the opposite side, the monitoring will be conducted by the field assistants of OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative Yevgeny Sharov and Jiri Aberle.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council’s four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.