Azernews.Az

By Trend

Worsening of the situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh region is beneficial neither to Azerbaijan nor Armenia, IRNA news agency quoted Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Gasemi as saying on July 10.

He noted that Iran's position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is clear.

“We are against escalation of the situation in the [Nagorno-Karabakh] conflict zone. At times, it seems that outside forces want to intervene in the issue and are interested in the aggravation of the situation. We regret this and hope that countries of the region will make joint efforts for de-escalation in the region,” Gasemi said.

On July 4 at about 20:40 (GMT+4 hours), the Armenian armed forces again violated ceasefire and, using 82-mm and 120-mm mortars and grenade launchers, shelled Azerbaijani positions and territories where the civilian population lives, namely the Alkhanli village of the country’s Fuzuli district, thereby grossly violating the requirements of international law, the Azerbaijani defense ministry said earlier.

As a result of this provocation, the residents of the village Sahiba Allahverdiyeva, 50, and Zahra Guliyeva, 2, were killed. Salminaz Guliyeva, 52, who got wounded, was taken to the hospital and was operated on.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

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