DM Monitoring
BAKU: Armed forces of Armenia in blatant violation of humanitarian truce continue to shell Tartar, Agjabadi, Agdam and other regions of Azerbaijan, Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan – Head of the Foreign Policy Department of the Presidential Administration Hikmat Hajiyev wrote.
Hajiyev wrote that one civilian is wounded. Armenian Armed Forces launched a large-scale military attack on positions of the Azerbaijani army on the front line, using large-caliber weapons, mortars, and artillery on Sept. 27.
Azerbaijan responded with a counter-offensive along the entire front. As a result of retaliation, Azerbaijani troops liberated a number of territories previously occupied by Armenia, as well as take important, strategic heights under control.
Following almost two weeks of intensive military confrontations, Armenia and Azerbaijan, with Russia’s mediation, have agreed on a temporary ceasefire for humanitarian purposes, for exchange of prisoners of war as well as bodies of the dead.
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, 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 the withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Meanwhile, the international community should act as soon as possible and force Armenia to end aggression [against Azerbaijan], Bezen Coskun, Research Fellow at Germany-based Centre for Applied Turkey Studies (CATS) told.
“Given the failure of the Minsk group’s previous peace initiatives, this time, the mediation group should be expanded to include other regional and extra-regional actors to break Armenia’s resistance to exiting Azerbaijani lands,” she said, reminding about Armenia’s latest attacks on Ganja.
“In my opinion, a humanitarian truce was an opportunity to end clashes and start talking about the conflict’s resettlement. By violating the ceasefire conditions, the Armenian side clearly showed that they are not interested in resolving the dispute,” Coskun added.
Furthermore, she noted that for a long time, Armenians enjoyed the continuation of the status quo. “Armenia has benefited from the delay in resolving the conflict and continued to control the region, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan,” the expert said. “The Armenian government has realized that it is in a tight corner due to the lack of support and Azerbaijan’s determination to reclaim Nagorno-Karabakh. Both the US and Russia have put pressure on Armenia to end attacks,” she said.
Coskun pointed out that Armenian attacks legitimize Azerbaijai military response, and Azerbaijani armed forces have liberated some of the villages under the Armenian occupation. All these developments have had a reverse effect on Armenian leadership and reinforced Armenian aggression.
Earlier, once again I am just reiterating Azerbaijan’s commitment to the humanitarian truce that has been agreed on, Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan, Head of the Foreign Policy Department of the Presidential Administration Hikmat Hajiyev told reporters. Hajiyev said that since the escalation of the situation Armenian armed forces continue terror acts against the Azerbaijani civilians.
Since the morning of Oct. 14, the armed units of the armed forces of Armenia have subjected the Tartar district to an intensive missile and artillery bombardment from various directions.
“Armenian side continues its hypocritical policy of attacking Azerbaijani civilians therefore how can we trust the Armenian side as they continue in a deliberate manner to kill the Azerbaijani civilians. Once again I am just reiterating Azerbaijan’s commitment to the humanitarian truce that has been agreed. We are ready to continue negotiations with the Armenian side, we are implementing the telephone diplomacy with all our partners,” Hajiyev said.
