YEREVAN. Feb 6 (Interfax) - Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbaldyan informed the co-chairs of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group at a meeting in Munich that Azerbaijan frequently breaches the ceasefire along the line of contact between the Armenian and Azeri Armed Forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman told Interfax.
"The authorities of Azerbaijan grossly defy the international community's calls, while their adventurist policy and provocative actions only serve to further escalate the situation and hamper the peaceful settlement process," Nalbandyan said.
In recent weeks, Azerbaijan has breached the ceasefire more than 3,000 times, "leading to casualties, including among the civilian population," the Armenian minister said.
However, Yerevan will continue to work together with the OSCE Minsk Group to secure an exclusively peaceful solution to the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, he said.
For his part, James Warlick, the U.S. co-chair of the Minsk Group, which spearheads the OSCE's efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, welcomed the results of the meeting with Nalbandyan.
"Good meeting with #Armenia FM @MunSecConf [on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference] to discuss #NKpeace [Nagorno-Karabakh peace]. We [OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs] welcome his commitment to reducing tensions [on the Armenian-Azeri border]," Warlick said on his Twitter account.
Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry, for its part, called on the Armenian foreign minister to take actual measures to initiate detailed discussions on a peace treaty for Nagorno-Karabakh.
"Instead of making pointless, empty and demagogical statements, the Armenian authorities, first and foremost, should launch work on a peace treaty as soon as possible following the insistent calls and appeals of the leadership of countries of the world led by the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group," Azeri Foreign Ministry spokesman Hikmet Hajiyev said in a commentary on Friday.
According to the diplomat, Armenia needs to realize that peace and stability would return to the region only after Armenia withdraws its forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan in line with four resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council.
On January 27, the OSCE called on Azerbaijan and Armenia to demonstrate restraint to prevent further escalation and reiterated the importance of measures that could help prevent possible incidents between the two countries.