Defense Ministry warns Armenia over its provocations on frontline

/By Azernews/

By Nazrin Gadimova

Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry warned the Armenian side as the situation on the frontline has aggravated following new provocations of the enemy.

Spokesperson for the Defense Ministry Vagif Dargahli said that in case Armenia continues shelling Azerbaijani settlements, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces will inflict retaliatory strikes on Armenia’s military facilities located in residential areas.

Residents of the Terter region, which is adjacent to the frontline area, have suffered as a result of the recent military activities provoked by the Armenian side. On April 26, several private houses in villages of Seidinli, Gapanli, Gazyan, Seysulan, Chilaburt, Yarimdzha and Goyarh were shelled by truck-mounted 122 mm multiple rocket launcher ‘Grad’ belonging to Armenia.

Commenting on the situation, Dargahli also refuted Armenia’s reports that the Azerbaijani armed forces shelled residential areas in the occupied territories.

“The Azerbaijani army only strikes the enemy’s outposts with high-precision weapons,” Dargahli said. “We are not dealing with civilians, on the contrary, Armenians are shelling residential areas with large-caliber weapons, as a result of which a number of houses have been damaged in Azerbaijan’s Terter region.”

Armenia is also using weapons prohibited by international conventions while shelling the Azerbaijani positions and settlements near the contact line.

The defense ministry believes that committing acts of sabotage on the contact line of troops Armenia is trying to provoke the Azerbaijani side into active hostilities. The military and political regime of Armenia bears responsibility for the developments along the contact line, the ministry concluded.

After Russia-brokered ceasefire agreement was reached on April 5, the situation on the contact line of troops of the Armenian and Azerbaijani armies has again aggravated.

Yerevan launched military operations shortly after Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan's statement on impossibility of resolving the long-lasting Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through the peaceful process.

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.