Azerbaijan's FM reveals Armenia's next false statement
By Nazrin Gadimova
Azerbaijan has revealed another false statement of Armenia regarding the clashes along the contact line of troops.
Hikmet Hajiyev, the Spokesperson for Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry, said that Yerevan’s statement about the damage done to civilian population and facilities in the occupied Azerbaijani territories, controlled by Armenia, is a lie.
“There are no civilians in those areas,” he stressed, adding that this is a result of the ethnic cleansing carried out by Armenia against the Azerbaijanis in the occupied territories.
Azerbaijan shares the concern of the U.S. Department of State and the Russian Foreign Ministry over the escalation of situation on the line of contact between the Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, Hajiyev added.
“Starting from April 27 evening until 04:00 (GMT + 4) on April 28, the Armenian armed forces were firing at settlements, as well as the Azerbaijani army's positions in Azerbaijan's Terter and Agdam districts,” the spokesperson said.
He further stressed that as a result of Armenia’s grossly violating the international humanitarian law, a resident of Azerbaijan’s Agdam district was killed, eight people were injured, while a lot of Azerbaijani public facilities and property suffered considerable damage.
“The intentional use of cluster munitions by the Armenian troops against the Azerbaijani civilians densely residing along the line of contact, has no military purpose, but targets civilians," Hajiyev added.
The official believes that the Armenian military units’ attempts to exterminate the civilians using inhumane methods are a part of the systematic policy of terror against Azerbaijan. “Azerbaijan has warned international community about new provocations being prepared by Armenia," he said, adding that Yerevan will be fully responsible for the actions of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces taken to ensure the safety of civilians along the line of contact.
The situation on the contact line of Armenian and Azerbaijani troops has again aggravated on April 24 despite the ceasefire agreement that was reached with the mediation of Russia on April 5.
The long-lasting Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict remains unresolved due to the continuation of Armenia’s occupant policy. Yerevan has not yet implemented the UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
The OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, proceeding talks based on the renewed Madrid principles. However, the statements promising a sincere contribution to the peaceful resolution of the conflict have become frequent, but declarative in essence.
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Nazrin Gadimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @NazrinGadimova
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