The body of an Armenian serviceman, who died during the recent military operations on the contact line between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops, has been handed over to the Armenian side.

The process took place in the direction of the Bash Garvand village of Azerbaijan’s Aghdam district on April 20 through the mediation of the ICRC and OSCE.

Azerbaijan's State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing People reported on Apr. 19 that the body of an Armenian serviceman killed on the contact line will be handed over the Armenian side on April 20 at 15:00 (GMT + 4 hours), and this decision was made by the relevant government structures.

The Commission added that the body of the Armenian serviceman was located on April 11 on the territory under the control of Azerbaijan.

The State Commission appealed to the ICRC so that it take part in the humanitarian mission and inform the Armenian side.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict entered its modern phase when the Armenian SRR made territorial claims against the Azerbaijani SSR in 1988.

A fierce war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. As a result of the war, Armenian armed forces occupied some 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory which includes Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts (Lachin, Kalbajar, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Gubadli and Zangilan), and over a million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced people.

The military operations finally came to an end when Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in Bishkek in 1994.

Dealing with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the OSCE Minsk Group, which was created after the meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Helsinki on 24 March 1992. The Group’s members include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belarus, Finland and Sweden.

Besides, the OSCE Minsk Group has a co-chairmanship institution, comprised of Russian, US and French co-chairs, which began operating in 1996.

Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 of the UN Security Council, which were passed in short intervals in 1993, and other resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly, PACE, OSCE, OIC, and other organizations require Armenia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh.