Washington not recognizes "independence" of occupation regime in Nagorno-Karabakh
The United States has once again voiced support to territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan.
The U.S., along with the rest of the international community, does not recognize the "independence" of the occupation regime in Nagorno-Karabakh, said Mark Toner, Deputy Spokesperson of the US State Department, on May 6.
"Nagorno-Karabakh's final status will only be resolved in the context of a comprehensive settlement", he stressed.
For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict, which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions.
Toner further said that Washington urges the sides to come to the negotiating table in good faith in order to reach a settlement that achieves those goals.
The situation on the frontline aggravated on April 2 after the Armenian military units in the occupied lands started shelling Azerbaijan’s positions.
To protect civilian population, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces launched counter attacks and as a result, the Azerbaijani troops retook hills around the village of Talish, as well as Seysulan settlement, and also took over Lele Tepe hill located in the direction of Fizuli region.
The hostilities in the contact line of troops renewed on April 24 as a result of the Armenian provocation. Despite the Russia-brokered agreement achieved on April 5, Armenia violated ceasefire with Azerbaijan by shelling its positions and civilians using prohibited weapons.
The Armenian military units have shelled Azerbaijan’s Terter district, including Gapanli village on April 26 from 01:05 to 04:25 (UTC/GMT +4 hours).
Baku has repeatedly called on Armenia to abstain from violence, but Yerevan keeps ignoring all the appeals.
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