Azernews.Az

By Vugar Khalilov

President Ilham Aliyev has signed a decree on awarding a group of Azerbaijani servicemen distinguished in thwarting Armenian provocations on the state border in mid-November, Azertag reported on December 27.

Under paragraph 23 of the Azerbaijani Constitution, Aliyev awarded a group of servicemen, who successfully fulfilled their combat mission to prevent Armenia’s provocations and attacks on the state border in liberated Kalbajar and Lachin regions on November 16, 2021, as well as to protect and secure the state border by fulfilling their official duties, the report added.

Over 90 servicemen of Azerbaijan’s Defence Ministry who have shown courage and self-sacrifice in the performance of their duties were awarded in line with the presidential decree.

The escalation of tension was registered on the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border on November 16. As a result, seven Azerbaijani servicemen were killed and 10 were wounded during military operations in Kalbajar and Lachin on the state border with Armenia on November 16.

The trilateral ceasefire deal signed by the Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian leaders on November 10, 2020, ended the three-decade conflict over Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region which along with the seven adjacent districts came under the occupation of the Armenian armed forces in the war in the early 1990s.

On January 11, 2021, the Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian leaders signed the second statement since the end of the 44-day war. The newly-signed statement was set to implement clause 9 of the November 2020 statement related to the unblocking of all economic and transport communications in the region.

On November 26, 2021, the three leaders signed a statement and agreed on a number of issues, including the demarcation and delimitation of the Azerbaijani-Armenian border by late 2021, some points related to humanitarian issues and the issue of unblocking of transport corridors which applies to the railway and to automobile communications.

It should be noted that as part of President Aliyev's visit to Brussels on December 14-15, 2021, the demarcation and delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, the opening of communications, humanitarian issues and other topics were discussed.

As a result of the trilateral meeting between Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, EU Council President Charles Michel which took place at the latter's initiative on December 14 in Brussels, as well as a bilateral meeting between Aliyev and Michel, through the EU mediation, Azerbaijan handed over to Armenia 10 Armenian servicemen on December 19.

The transferred persons were detained on November 16, 2021, while preventing a provocation by the Armenian armed forces on the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border.

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