Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan`s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov talked on the phone with Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on the recent tension in the frontline.

Mammadyarov stressed that Armenian armed forces targeting civil objects and civilians densely residing in the territories adjacent to the frontline area open intensive heavy weapons fire at the positions of Azerbaijan’s armed forces along the line of contact and as a result, a number of civilians were killed and wounded.

The minister emphasized that illegal presence of Armenian armed forces in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan remains a main cause for the escalation of situation and underlined that in order to ease the tension and achieve progress in the settlement Armenian forces must be withdrawn from all occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

Mammadyarov added that serious political process should start in the settlement of the conflict.

For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions.

Over the entire period of its existence, the OSCE Minsk Group, which acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, failed to move forward in resolving the long lasting conflict, although the interested parties had pinned great hopes on it.

The situation on the frontline aggravated on April 2 after the Armenian military units in the occupied lands started shelling Azerbaijan’s positions.

To protect civilian population, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces launched counter attacks and as a result, the Azerbaijani troops retook hills around the village of Talish, as well as Seysulan settlement, and also took over Lele Tepe hill located in the direction of Fizuli region.

The hostilities renewed in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan on April 4, as the Armenian side continued to shell the Azerbaijani positions although the Azerbaijani side announced unilateral ceasefire on April 3.

The Azerbaijani Army destroyed about 370 enemy soldiers since the start of the hostilities, according to the defense ministry.

Azerbaijan and Armenia have agreed to cease operations on the line of contact starting from 12.00, April 5.

The Azerbaijani armed units are now carrying out fortification work in the retaken areas, Defense Ministry reported.