Azerbaijani military positions come under fire in liberated Kalbajar

By Azernews

By Vugar Khalilov

The Armenian armed forces have shelled Azerbaijani positions in liberated Kalbajar District, Azernews reports, citing the Defense Ministry.

On the night of September 3-4, units of the Armenian armed forces, using various weapons, subjected to fire the Azerbaijani army positions in the direction of the Yellija and Zivel settlements of Kalbajar District from their positions near Ashagi Shorja and Yukhari Shorja settlement of Basarkechar (Gegharkunik) region, the ministry said.

Units of the Azerbaijani army took appropriate retaliatory measures to suppress the opposite side, the report added.

Armenia periodically shells Azerbaijani military positions on liberated territories. Since early September, Azerbaijani positions have multiple times come under Armenian fire. The previous truce violation was recorded on the evening of September 4.

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.

After the meeting, Michel said that Azerbaijan and Armenia decided to accelerate substantive work on the peace treaty governing inter-state ties between the two countries and tasked the foreign ministers to meet within one month to work on a draft text.

The parties also thoroughly discussed humanitarian matters like demining, detainees, and the fate of missing people.

The leaders assessed progress on all issues relating to border delimitation and how to best guarantee a stable situation and agreed that the next Border Commissions meeting to be held in Brussels in November.

The parties discussed the status of negotiations on the mechanisms for unblocking transport lines.

Michel emphasized the need of bringing the populations on both sides along and preparing them for long-term sustainable peace.

“Public messaging is critical in this regard – in a sensitive situation as every word spoken in public is obviously listened to by the other side and weighed,” he said.