Baku confirms Armenian soldier crossed border to Azerbaijan
By Nigar Orujova
Azerbaijani Defense Ministry has confirmed reports telling of an Armenian soldier who voluntarily crossed into Azerbaijan.
Spokesman for the ministry, Colonel Vagif Dargahli confirmed this fact. "This is most likely due to tense situation, fear and panic in the Armenian armed forces", he said.
Dargahli said, the ministry will provide additional information about the incident later.
Earlier, Armenian media reported that soldier Andranik Grigoryan, crossed the border into Azerbaijan.
The Azerbaijani armed forces carried Armenia a heavy blow when it troops attempted to target its territories. In the clashes - March 19 - over 20 Armenian soldiers were wounded and their equipment destroyed.
The situation on the line of contact between Azerbaijan and
Armenia has remained tense as the Armenian Armed Forces have
continuously refused to keep to the ceasefire agreement,
encroaching on Azerbaijan' sovereignty over 56 times throughout the
course of the day, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry was reported as
saying by AzerTac state news agency on March 22.
The ceasefire was violated in Gulustan and Tapgaragoyunlu villages
in Goranboy, Chayli, Goyarkh and Chilaburt villages in Tartar,
Javahirli, Garagashli, Kangarli, Sarijali, Shiklar, Shuraabad,
Yusifjanli, Marzili, Novruzlu villages in Aghdam, Kuropatkino
village in Khojavand, Horadiz, Ashagi Seyidahmadli, Ashagi
Veysalli, Gorgan, Garakhanbayli villages in Fuzuli, and Mehdili
village in Jabrayil.
The Armenians were silenced by a retaliatory fire.
Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including the Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after it laid territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor in the lead of a brutal war in the early 1990s. Long-standing efforts by U.S., Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.
As a result of Armenia's military aggression over 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed, 4,866 were reported missing, almost 100,000 were injured, and 50,000 were disabled.
The UN Security Council has passed four resolutions calling on Armenia to withdrawal from all Azerbaijani territories, but they have not been enforced to this day.
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Nigar Orujova is AzerNews’s staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @o_nigar
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