Yerevan, sole provoker of recent developments in Nagorno-Karabakh
By Nazrin Gadimova
Over the past two days the situation on the contact line of troops has once again worsened as the Armenian side, breaching all the commitments and international conventions, has shelled Azerbaijani positions and villages adjacent to the frontline area.
In such circumstances, Azerbaijan’s response was sharp. The Defense Ministry said that as long as the Armenian side continues shelling civil population, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces would continue to strike back at the enemy’s military positions using appropriate weapons.
There is no doubt that namely Yerevan has once again played the role of the provoker in the recent events.
In response to a journalist's question at the very last press briefing about violation of ceasefire by Armenia the U.S. State Department official said the U.S. condemns in the strongest possible terms any violence along the Nagorno-Karabakh line of conflict.
“Our chairman of the Minsk Group – co-chair [James Warlick] – has visited the region,” Spokesperson Mark Toner said. “We have remained in contact with both governments, all sides in this conflict, and our message has been consistent, which is that we condemn in the strongest possible terms any violence along the Nagorno-Karabakh line of conflict and we need to see the peace process back up and running and as soon as possible.”
Toner stressed that there is no military solution to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.
If the world community does not want see military solution to the conflict, then they should force Armenia to refuse from destructive policy, to stop shelling civilians and to withdraw its troops from the internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan.
Armenia, which controls over 20 percent of the Azerbaijani territories, has recently shelled Azerbaijani positions and residential areas of Terter and Agdam regions using 60, 82 and 120 mm mortars as well as 122 mm D-30 howitzers. As a result of military attacks one resident of Azerbaijan’s Agdam region was killed, while eight injured. Moreover, the Armenian shelling damaged more than 100 houses located near the contact line of troops.
Elkhan Alasgarov, PhD, head of the Baku Network's expert council, believes that the fact that the enemy is firing at these regions is not accidental.
Azerbaijan’s Agdam and Terter regions are the nearest residential areas to the contact line of troops. Therefore, Armenia tries to create panic and fear among those living in these regions, to force them to leave their homes and then to take advantage of the opportunity, the expert said.
At the same time, Alasgarov recalled Armenian threats to bomb oil and gas pipelines that go through the territories neighboring to Azerbaijan’s Ganja city. “The shortest route to these territories passes through Terter region,” he said, adding that therefore, the enemy focuses on these areas.
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Nazrin Gadimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @NazrinGadimova
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