High morale among Azerbaijani military personnel:Defense Ministry
By Jamila Babayeva
Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said that the morale and combat readiness of the military personnel have hit a record high.
Spokesman for the Ministry of Defense Lieutenant-Colonel Vagif Dargahli announced that: "Morale and combat readiness of the army are sufficient to defeat the enemy. Morale and patriotism of the troops are at a high level. Personnel of the armed forces are ready to fulfill any combat mission," he said.
He also noted that several steps have been taken to enhance the combat readiness of the armed forces. Meanwhile, various operations are underway to improve the military capabilities of the country. These operations are made under the constant scrutiny of the Ministry's leadership.
Regarding the information by the foreign media about the imminent start of the war between Azerbaijan and Armenia, he said that Azerbaijan should not rely on assumptions, but on facts, and yet the evidence suggests that the situation on the frontline remains tense.
He noted that the number of violations of the ceasefire on the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops have intensified recently. From January 21 to January 29 the ceasefire was broken 1,380 times and in all cases the firing was silenced by retaliation fire. Most violations of the ceasefire are observed in the direction of Fizuli, Agdam, Tartar, Goranboy, Khojavend, Djebrail regions.
"There are many causes behind the tensions seen in the last few days on the frontline," Dargahli said.
"As a result of the vigilance of our soldiers the attempts of reconnaissance and sabotage by the enemy groups have been suppressed and they were forced to retreat," he noted.
Dargahli said the Ministry of Defense is investigating a member of an Armenian reconnaissance and sabotage group who was arrested on January 28.
The Armenian reconnaissance and sabotage group attempted to cross the contact line of troops on January 28 at 15:00, in the direction of the Alibayli village of Azerbaijan's Tovuz district.
Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that caused a brutal war in the early 1990s.
The UN Security Council's four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal have not been enforced to this day.
Peace talks, mediated by Russia, France and the US and the OSCE Minsk Group are underway on the basis of a peaceful outline -called Madrid Principle -proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs. The negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.
Armenia constantly violates the ceasefire on the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, and these violations have intensified recently, reaching more than 200 times a day.
The ceasefire has been violated on the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops in different positions 74 times a day, the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry reported on January 30.
The shooting was retaliated by fires from other side. No one was killed.