Army

Army

Armenia violates ceasefire with Azerbaijan 126 times

18 January 2018 06:52 (UTC +04:00)

Armenia’s armed forces have 126 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops over the past 24 hours, using large-caliber machine guns, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry told APA on Jan. 18.

The Azerbaijani army positions located in Kamarli, Gushchu Ayrim, Gizilhajili, Bala Jafarli villages and on nameless heights in Gazakh district came under fire from the Armenian army positions located in Voskevan village in Noyemberyan district, in Paravakar village and on nameless heights in Ijevan district.

The Azerbaijani army positions were shelled from the Armenian army positions located near the Armenian-occupied Shuraabad, Taghibeyli, Shikhlar, Bash Garvand, Garagashly, Yusifjanly, Marzili villages in Aghdam district, Kuropatkino village in Khojavend district, Ashaghy Veysalli, Gobu Dilagharda, Garvand, Garakhanbayli, Ashaghy Seyidahmadli, Gorgan, Kurdlar, Horadiz villages in Fuzuli district, Nuzgar and Mehdili villages in Jabrayil district, as well as from positions located on nameless heights in Terter, Aghdam, Khojavend and Fuzuli districts.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict entered its modern phase when the Armenian SRR made territorial claims against the Azerbaijani SSR in 1988.

A fierce war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. As a result of the war, Armenian armed forces occupied some 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory which includes Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts (Lachin, Kalbajar, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Gubadli and Zangilan), and over a million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced people.

The military operations finally came to an end when Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in Bishkek in 1994.

Dealing with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the OSCE Minsk Group, which was created after the meeting of the CSCE (OSCE after the Budapest summit held in December 1994) Ministerial Council in Helsinki on 24 March 1992. The Group’s members include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belarus, Finland and Sweden.

Besides, the OSCE Minsk Group has a co-chairmanship institution, comprised of Russian, the US and French co-chairs, which began operating in 1996.

Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 of the UN Security Council, which were passed in short intervals in 1993, and other resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly, PACE, OSCE, OIC, and other organizations require Armenia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh.