Menu
Latest
Menu
Latest
Commentary

Representatives of the OSCE High Level Planning Group to participate in Karabakh monitoring

10 April 2012

The OSCE will be conducting monitoring of the contact line between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces on Thursday, 12 April, according to Armenian media quoting sources in Nagorno-Karabakh. From the Armenian side the monitoring will be conducted by Field Assistants of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Antal Herdich (Hungary) and Irjie Aberle (Czech Republic), as well as representative of the OSCE High-Level Planning Group (HLPG) Colonel Andrey Barashkin.

From the Azerbaijani side the monitoring is to be led by Coordinator of the Office of the Representative of the Chairman-in-Office, Peter Kee (Great Britain), Field Assistant Hristo Hristov (Bulgaria) and a representative of HLPG Ilhami Deirmenoghlu (Turkey).

The High Level Planning Group was established after the Budapest summit of the OSCE in December 1994 with an open-ended mandate issued on 23 March 1995. According to the OSCE the group "is mandated to make recommendations to the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on developing a plan for the establishment, force structure requirements and operation of a multinational OSCE peacekeeping force for the area of conflict dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference."

 The current head of this group, appointed by the Irish Chairmanship is Col. William Harrington. The HLPG is located in Vienna. It is composed of eight officers seconded by OSCE participating States, and one fixed-term contracted staff member.

The situation on the contact line between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone has been an issue of concern for the international community for some time. There are daily incidents, with dozens killed each year on both sides as a result of sniper fire and other cease fire violations. The cease fire is not independently supervised, but the OSCE holds regular monitoring visits. Many consider that the monitoring regime is inadequate, but there is little chance of the sides agreeing to expanding it unless there is movement in the process to resolve the conflict.

source: commonspace.eu with agencies

photo: general view of Nagorno Karabakh (archive picture)

Related articles

Editor's choice
News
Women emerge favourite to lead United Nations from next year, after straw-poll of UN Security Council members
Trending

Women emerge favourite to lead United Nations from next year, after straw-poll of UN Security Council members

1 August 2026
​ Two women have emerged as favourite to lead the United Nations as Secretary-General from 1 January 2027, when the term of the present incumbent, Antonio Gutteres, expires. A straw poll of the members of the UN Security Council, held on Thursday, 30 July showed that of the seven candidates, Rebecca Grynspan of Costa Rica and Carolyn Rodriguez-Birkett of Guyana received ten and nine positive endorsements respectively, by the 15 members UN Security Council Although the poll and its result are supposed to be secret, the result leaked within minutes, and was carried on world media outlets, such as Reuters. The result was as follows   Michelle Bachelet 6 encourage 5  discourage   4 no opinion María Fernanda Espinosa 5 2 8 Rafael Grossi 7 2 6 Rebeca Grynspan 10 1 4 Olara Otunnu 2 5 8 Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett 9 2 4 Macky Sall 6 7 2   Article 97 of the UN Charter states that the “Secretary-General shall be appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council”. Straw polls are informal ballots used to determine the viability of Secretary-General candidates.  The seven current candidates are: Michelle Bachelet Jeria (Chile), who was nominated by Brazil, Chile, and Mexico on 2 February, with Chile withdrawing its nomination on 24 March; María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés (Ecuador), who was nominated by Antigua and Barbuda on 11 May; Rafael Mariano Grossi (Argentina), who was nominated by Argentina on 26 November 2025; Rebeca Grynspan Mayufis (Costa Rica), who was nominated by Costa Rica on 3 March; Olara Otunnu (Uganda), who was nominated by Uganda on 24 July; Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett (Guyana), who was nominated by Guyana on 15 June; and Macky Sall (Senegal), who was nominated by Burundi on 2 March. At Thursday's straw poll, there was no difference between the ballots presented to the five permanent members (P5) and the ten elected members (E10). Council members received one ballot per candidate, containing the candidate’s name followed by three options: “encouraged”, “discouraged”, and “no opinion expressed”.   It is ofcourse early days, and the straw poll is just an informal indication of the mood of the UN Security Council, but the strong showwing by the two womencandidates may be an indication that for the first time, the head of the UN can be a women. (click image to read more) ​

Popular

Editor's choice
Interview
Thursday Interview: Murad Muradov
Trending

Thursday Interview: Murad Muradov

15 January 2026
Today, commonspace.eu starts a new regular weekly series. THURSDAY INTERVIEW, conducted by Lauri Nikulainen, will host  persons who are thinkers, opinion shapers, and implementors in their countries and spheres. We start the series with an interview with Murad Muradov, a leading person in Azerbaijan's think tank community. He is also the first co-chair of the Action Committee for a new Armenian-Azerbaijani Dialogue. Last September he made history by being the first Azerbaijani civil society activist to visit Armenia after the 44 day war, and the start of the peace process. Speaking about this visit Murad Muradov said: "My experience was largely positive. My negative expectations luckily didn’t play out. The discussions were respectful, the panel format bringing together experts from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey was particularly valuable during the NATO Rose-Roth Seminar in Yerevan, and media coverage, while varied in tone, remained largely constructive. Some media outlets though attempted to represent me as more of a government mouthpiece than an independent expert, which was totally misleading.  Overall, I see these initiatives as important steps in rebuilding trust and normalising professional engagement. The fact that soon a larger Azerbaijani civil society visits to Armenia followed, reinforces the sense that this process is moving in the right direction." (click the image to read the interview in full)
Murad Muradov
Lauri Nikulainen interviews Murad Muradov