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Army

Azerbaijani Defense Ministry: The possibility that Armenian subunits might have fired at the ICRC automobile on provocative purpose raise no doubts

29 July 2014 10:50 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Rashad Suleymanov – APA. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry has commented on some pieces of information released by Armenian mass media outlets regarding the fact that the ICRC automobile was shot at on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border.

The Defense Ministry told APA that the Azerbaijani Armed Forces respect the fact that civilians, non-military facilities and vehicles, as well as employees and vehicles that have insignias of international humanitarian organizations on them are protected under the Geneva Convention. Subunits of the Azerbaijani Army, complying with rules of war, are using only retaliatory measures against military facilities.

’”Armenia has so far committed numerous war crimes, it’s now trying to achieve its sinister goals by visits of international humanitarian organizations’ representatives to the fighting areas. During such visits to areas along the front line, the Armenians fire at them from various directions on provocative purpose and trying to blame the Azerbaijani side. Therefore, the possibility that Armenian subunits might have fired at the ICRC automobile on provocative purpose raise no doubts”, stated the Defense Ministry.

The Ministry also reminded that subunits of the Armenian Armed Forces continue to fire on Azerbaijani positions and residential areas along the front line. The ceasefire was violated nearly 500 times over the last 10 days. They intensively fire on villages of Tovuz and Gazakh near the state border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and civilians—children, women, the elderly—therein suffer from shootings more than anyone else. And their farm works get inhibited. The fact that Armenian side’s shootings caused injuries and casualties in a short time is another proof that Armenian subunits are violating the ceasefire on purpose.

“Once again we are saying that subunits of the Azerbaijani Armed Units comply with the ceasefire, do not fire at civilians, non-military facilities, and only take retaliatory actions against the enemy when it violates the ceasefire”, the statement says.

According to news.am, Program Manager for Communications of the ICRC Yerevan Office Zara Amatuni said their automobile had come under crossfire on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border. The ICRC refused to reveal which side had violated the ceasefire. The organization’s spokesperson just said that shots had been heard from both sides of the border.