Azernews.Az

BAKU – Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has labeled as a provocation Armenian troops’ killing a nine-year-old boy in a ceasefire violation on Tuesday.

"This is disappointing, because a nine-year-old kid is not involved in war. His death could be termed only as a provocation, i.e. some forces are opposed to our reaching peace with the Armenian side," Mammadyarov told a press conference Thursday.

Mammadyarov reminded that Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan and their Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev issued a joint statement after talks held in Sochi, Russia on March 5 saying the sides will investigate skirmishes along the contact line of the Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, under the auspices of the OSCE mediators.

Mammadyarov said he had expressed Baku’s outrage with the child’s killing during a recent phone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Mammadyarov said both the mediating OSCE Minsk Group’s co-chairs and the personal representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk had been informed about the incident.

"All of Azerbaijan’s diplomatic missions abroad will inform the leaders of the countries they are accredited in about this incident," the minister added.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a precarious cease-fire in 1994. Armenian armed forces have since occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno Karabakh. Sporadic clashes on the frontline continue. Peace talks have been fruitless so far.

Russia co-chairs the Minsk Group brokering the peace process, along with the United States and France.