MP assesses Armenia's exercises in occupied lands as provocation
By Rashid Shirinov
The Armenian armed forces have launched large-scale exercises involving heavy artillery and armored vehicles in the occupied Bagbanlar territory of Azerbaijan’s Agdam region, once again showing Yerevan’s unwillingness to engage in serious talks to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Azerbaijani MP Sahib Aliyev has assessed the launch of new large-scale exercises by the Armenian army in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan as another provocation by the aggressor state.
Aliyev, talking to Day.Az, noted that along with the drills, daily provocations of the Armenian armed forces and ceasefire breaches in various directions of the frontline show the intentions of the Armenian leadership to undermine the peace talks, which are expected before the end of this year.
The Armenian side daily violates the ceasefire with Azerbaijani Armed Forces. The intensity of Armenia’s ceasefire violations exceeds 100 cases.
“The situation on the frontline remains tense because of the attacks of the Armenian side on the Azerbaijani positions simultaneously from several directions. In this way, the Armenian leadership defiantly shows that it is not ready to sit at the negotiating table,” he said.
The MP added that Armenia, on the contrary, is attuned to keeping the status quo indefinitely: “Of course, Armenia understands that substantive negotiations carry significant risks for the ruling clan. It is therefore possible that such provocations will continue.”
Aliyev called on international mediators, which volunteered to help the conflict parties to come to agreement on the conflict resolution, to exert pressure on Armenia and force it to join constructive negotiations with Azerbaijan.
“Azerbaijan expects real steps from Russia and the U.S. [the two co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group], which show activity in the settlement of the protracted conflict. Recently, the mediation of the co-chairs has increased significantly, and statements of the OSCE MG co-chairs indicated this,” Aliyev noted.
Azerbaijan has repeatedly stated that it is committed to a peaceful way of solving the long-standing problem, and this position remains unchanged, the MP noted
“Nevertheless, the military way of its solving remains on the agenda, and this should worry the leadership of Armenia most of all,” he said, emphasizing that the Armenian side will get a decent response to its every provocation.
Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan by laying territorial claims on 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. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.
Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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