Azerbaijan foils illegal Armenian armed group provocation
By Vafa Ismayilova
Azerbaijan has thwarted a provocation by the illegal Armenian armed detachments located on the country's territories temporarily controlled by Russian peacekeepers, the Defence Ministry reported on September 3.
From 0100 to 0215 on September 3, the position of one of the Azerbaijani army units in the direction of Shusha was intensively fired by illegal Armenian armed groups on the Azerbaijani territory, where Russian peacekeepers are temporarily stationed, the ministry said.
It stressed that as a result of the vigilance and immediate measures taken by the Azerbaijani army, the opposite side suffered casualties and was silenced.
The ministry added that the command of the Russian peacekeepers and the Russian-Turkish joint monitoring centre were informed about the incident.
The ministry pledged to further take appropriate measures in line with Azerbaijani laws in case of similar attempts of provocation in the future.
On August 30, Defence Minister Zakir Hasanov ordered the Azerbaijani army to give an adequate response to the provocations of Armenia.
On August 11, Azerbaijan urged the Russian peacekeepers to end the illegal deployment of Armenian troops on Azerbaijan’s territories under their temporary control.
Later on August 14, President Ilham Aliyev reiterated that Azerbaijan has recently identified that Armenian troops are being sent to Karabakh via the Lachin corridor that is controlled by the Russian peacekeepers and stressed that this contradicts the 10 November peace deal signed by Baku, Moscow and Yerevan.
About 2,000 Russian peacekeepers have been deployed for five years in Karabakh under the Moscow-brokered trilateral cease-fire deal. The signed agreement obliged Armenia to withdraw all its troops from the Azerbaijani lands that it had occupied since the early 1990s.
The deal also stipulated the return of Azerbaijan’s Kalbajar, Aghdam and Lachin regions. Before the signing of the peace deal, Azerbaijan liberated 300 villages, settlements, city centres, and historic Shusha city that had been under Armenian occupation for about 30 years.
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