MoD dismisses Armenian media allegations on Azerbaijani truce violation as fake

By Azernews

By Vugar Khalilov

Baku has dismissed as false Armenian media reports, alleging the ceasefire violation by the Azerbaijani troops in the direction of Girmizi Bazar in Azerbaijan's Khojavand District currently under Russian peacekeeper control, Azernews reports, citing the Defense Ministry.

“The information spread in some Armenian mass media about the alleged opening of fire by units of the Azerbaijani army in the direction of Girmizi Bazar settlement of Khojavand District, resulting in damage to the civil infrastructure is false, wide of the mark, and does not reflect the truth. We categorically deny this information,” the ministry stressed.

On the contrary, Armenia periodically shells Azerbaijani military positions on liberated territories. Since early September, Azerbaijani positions have multiple times come under Armenian fire. The latest truce violation was recorded on September 11 on the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border, as well as on the Azerbaijani territories temporarily controlled by the Russian peacekeepers.

On September 11, members of illegal Armenian armed groups, stationed in areas under the temporary control of the Russian peace-keeping contingent in Azerbaijan's Karabakh, subjected to fire Azerbaijani army positions in Kalbajar’s Agqaya village, the ministry reported earlier.

About 2,000 Russian peacekeepers have been deployed for five years in Karabakh under the trilateral cease-fire deal signed by Baku, Moscow, and Yerevan on November 10, 2020. The signed agreement obliged Armenia to withdraw all its troops from the Azerbaijani lands it had occupied since the early 1990s.

Earlier, Ilham Aliyev stated that peace would come to the Caucasus based on the five principles Baku has recently proposed for normalizing relations with Armenia.

To recap, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met for the fourth time in Brussels on August 31 under the auspices of EU Council President Charles Michel to look into ways of expediting preparations for drafting a peace deal.