The monitoring was held Dec. 21 under the mandate of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative.

On the Azerbaijani side, the monitoring was held by field assistants of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative, Jiri Aberle and Simon Tiller.

On the Armenian side, the monitoring was held by field assistants of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative, Ghenadii Petrica, Hristo Hristov and Peter Svedberg.

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 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.