Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Armenia’s subversive and provocative actions on the eve of a meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents in Switzerland are aimed at aggravation of the situation, Hikmat Hajiyev, the spokesman for the Azerbaijani foreign ministry, told Trend on December 18.

“Armenia’s actions are aimed at violating the negotiation process by any means, preventing the progress in the conflict settlement, preserving the instable and unacceptable status quo,” Hajiyev said.

In a recent attempt to escalate the tensions on the contact line, the Armenian forces killed an Azerbaijani soldier on December 17. Azerbaijan repeatedly warned that overall responsibility for aggravation of the situation on the contact line lies with the Armenian offensive military-political leadership.

President Ilham Aliyev left for Bern on December18 to attend a meeting of the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, which will be held at the initiative of the OSCE Minsk Group.

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. Long-standing efforts by U.S, Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.

As a result of the military aggression of Armenia, over 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed, more than 4,000 are reported missing and almost 100,000 were injured, and 50,000 were disabled.

The UN Security Council has passed four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been enforced to this day.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

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