TODAY.AZ / Politics

UK-made sniper rifles at Armenian army's disposal disturb Baku seriously

27 April 2015 [12:02] - TODAY.AZ

/By AzerNews/

By Mushvig Mehdiyev

Baku voiced its deep concerns over the use of UK-made sniper rifles by the Armenian armed forces along the line of contact.

"Armenia uses such kind of offensive weapons to go on its occupation and aggression against Azerbaijan, to keep civilians, including women and young children living alongside the contact line under threat", Spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, Hikmet Hajiyev said.

Hajiyev believes that Armenia has turned to illegal ways to obtain sniper rifles - namely the "black market". "It once again proves that this country’s statements about the alleged withdrawal of its snipers from the contact line are groundless and untrue," he said.

Armenian media recently spread a video which demonstrated the use of the British Accuracy International company’s sniper rifles by the Armenian special forces.

The UK embassy in Baku has been informed about Azerbaijan' serious concerns over this issue through the diplomatic channels, Hajiyev noted.

Explaining the reported issue, the British embassy informed that the UK supports a very strict export licensing policy and enforces OSCE sanctions on the sales of military equipment to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict parties.

"The UK has therefore never supplied sniper rifles to Armenia. We are aware of two rifles being exported from the UK to France under an approved export license (in 2012) which were then delivered from France to Armenia and displayed at an Arms Exhibition," the embassy said.

Accuracy International is a specialist British firearms manufacturer and best known for producing the Accuracy International Arctic Warfare series of precision sniper rifles.

Baku, in view of the issue, expects the national law, as well as the rules of regulating export control within the EU to act as a basis for the UK for demanding an end-user certificate from the Accuracy International and the company which has effected the sale to Armenia and for taking necessary legal measures.

"The official report of the UK said that these sniper rifles were sold through a company of other EU country. In this case, the Export Control Organization of UK would have to require an end-user certificate," Hajiyev said.

Assessing Yerevan' steps as the imitation of "confidence building", Baku said Armenia aims to deliberately jeopardize peace in the region through the ongoing occupation of Azerbaijan while enforcing a policy of aggression against its sovereignty.

Meanwhile, representatives of the Accuracy International company told media that they have sold other types of sniper rifles to Armenia, which led Baku to express additional concerns.

Azerbaijani Defense Ministry earlier accused Armenia of defying the norms of international law and control on the armament by particularly violating the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe. The ministry claimed that Yerevan not only illegally purchased weapons and deployed them in the occupied Azerbaijani territories, but that it failed to register them and kept them out of the control of the international inspection groups.

Exposing the illicit armament moves of the Armenian authorities, the Foreign Ministry has released a statement averring that Armenia continues to strengthen its military presence and capabilities on Azerbaijan's occupied territories, noting that on November 6, Armenia held provocative large-scale military exercises on the occupied territories involving nearly 47,000 troops (according to Armenian media).

Azerbaijan's internationally recognized Nagorno-Karabakh territory has become a conflict zone following Armenia's aggression in the early 1990s. As a result of Armenia's armed invasion, 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory fell under Armenia's occupation. Nonetheless, the OSCE has attempted to foster a peaceful resolution to this conflict amid Armenia's persistent derailment.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/politics/140181.html

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