YEREVAN. – OSCE pointed to escalation of situation and acts of sabotage by Azerbaijani side, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said.

The Azerbaijani armed forces attacked and civilian facilities, including from heavy military equipment, which is also a serious concern for the international mediators in the person of the OSCE Minsk Group.

“It is important that the co-chairs pointed at the party responsible for the tension,” he said.

Foreign Minister urged European parliamentarians to provide maximum support for the Minsk Group as the bearer of the mandate to mediate in the peace negotiations, and also asked to refrain from making statements that may be deemed biased and could harm the negotiation process.

“Baku wants to oppose itself to the co-chairs and is doing everything to frustrate the negotiation process, rejecting offers not only strategic ones on the principles of settlement, but also tactical - on the measures for mutual trust. Over the past six years 20 forums, dozens of meetings at the ministerial level and numerous visits of the OSCE Minsk Group were held, but the behavior of Azerbaijan is not changing. Over ten years, Azerbaijan has increased the military budget 30 times and threatens to resolve the conflict by military means. Civil society activists, intellectuals and journalists calling for peace are persecuted as 'Armenian spies.' Armenia, unlike Azerbaijan, remains committed to negotiations aimed at the exclusively peaceful solution to the conflict ,” Nalbandian concluded.