Azernews.Az

By Jamila Babayeva

The serviceman of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, Eshgin Guliyev was killed on February 7 by an Armenian sniper as a result of Armenian troops' shelling the positions of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces.

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry reported that Eshgin Guliyev was posthumously awarded with the medal "For Distinguished military service" of the third degree for personal valor on duty upon Defense Minister, Colonel-General Zakir Hasanov's order.

The ceasefire was violated on the contact line of Armenian and Azerbaijani troops in different positions 40 times per day last night.

The situation remains tense on the contact line of Armenian and Azerbaijani troops since early 2014. The ceasefire was violated over 2,000 times from January 21 until now. In all cases, the shooting was countered by return fire.

The Armenian troops shot dead Captain Elnur Jafarov and Lieutenant Sabuhi Azizov amid the growing tension along the contact line between the Armenian and Azerbaijan troops.

Earlier this week, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs issued a statement over the recent escalation on the line of contact and called on the sides to exercise restraint.

"The two sides stated their intention to strengthen observance of the ceasefire and avoid further escalation, particularly in light of the upcoming Olympic Games in Sochi," the statement read.

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.