Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan can count on Turkey’s full support, Suleyman Latif Yunusoglu, former MP from Turkey’s opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), told Trend by telephone on April 4.

He said Ankara attaches special importance to Nagorno-Karabakh, adding that Turkey should render any assistance to Azerbaijan in this issue.

“The whole world knows that Nagorno-Karabakh is the age-old Azerbaijani land,” said Yunusoglu.

On the night of April 2, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from large-caliber weapons, mortars, grenade launchers and guns.

Azerbaijani settlements near the contact line, densely populated by civilians, were fired at as well. Civilians were killed and wounded as a result of the Armenian attacks.

The Azerbaijani armed forces immediately launched counter attacks to prevent the activation of the Armenian military units and to protect civilian population. Six Armenian tanks, 15 gun mounts and reinforced engineering structures have been destroyed and more than 100 Armenian servicemen were wounded and killed during the shootouts.

Twelve servicemen of the Azerbaijani armed forces heroically died, one Mi-24 helicopter was shot down and one tank damaged by a mine.

Despite Azerbaijan's decision on unilateral suspension of the counter-attacks and response measures in the territories occupied by Armenia, the Armenian Armed Forces resumed shelling of Azerbaijani positions along the line of contact on the night of April 4, further deteriorating the situation on the contact line.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

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