4 yıl önce

Violations reported as new ceasefire comes into force in Nagorno-Karabakh

Azerbaijan’s Defence Ministry says despite Armenia's violations, Baku's army units are fully complying with the new ceasefire that was earlier announced by the US.

AFP

Family members and Aybeniz Khasanova (C), the mother of 29-years-old soldier killed during clashes with Armenia, reacts next to his grave, near Agdam city during the military conflict over occupied Nagorno-Karabakh on October 15, 2020.

Baku has said that the Armenian army violated a new temporary humanitarian cease-fire with Azerbaijan just five minutes after it went into effect.

“On October 26 at 08.05, the Armenian armed forces violated the new humanitarian cease-fire and shelled units of the Azerbaijani Army located in the Safiyan village of Lachin from the direction of Lachin city,” Azerbaijan’s Defence Ministry said on Twitter.

The ministry also said that Azerbaijani army units were fully complying with the cease-fire.

“Since 08.04, armed forces of Armenia started shelling Tartar region and its villages in violation of humanitarian ceasefire,” Hikmet Hajiyev, assistant to the Azerbaijani president, said on Twitter.

Meanwhile, Armenia's defence ministry also said Azerbaijani forces had "grossly violated" the ceasefire with artillery fire on combat positions in various parts of the frontline.

The US-brokered agreement was announced Sunday and had just come into effect as of Monday morning.

The first cease-fire reached on October 10 was violated by the Armenian army within 24 hours as it claimed several civilian lives when it carried out missile attacks on Azerbaijan’s Ganja city.

The second one on October 17 was again violated by Armenia.

Azerbaijan liberates 17 villages from Armenian occupation

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev announced that the country's armed forces had liberated 17 villages from Armenia's occupation a day earlier.

The Azerbaijani army liberated the Birinji Alibayli, Ikinji Alibayli, Raband and Yenikand villages of Zangilan district, the Govshudlu, Sofulu, Dagh Mashanli, Kurdlar, Hovuslu, Chalabilar villages of Jabrayil district and the Padar, Afandilar, Yusifbayli, Chaytumas, Khanlig, Sariyatag, Mollaburhan villages of Gubadli district and the city of Gubadli, state news agency Azertac quoted the president as saying.

Armenia making PKK terrorists wear Azerbaijani uniforms

Armenia has made YPG/PKK terrorists it brought to Upper Karabakh from Syria and Iraq wear Azerbaijani soldiers’ uniforms.

According to information obtained from intelligence sources, the terrorists are deployed in Shusha city in the disputed area, also known as Nagorno-Karabakh.

Noting that Armenians aimed to confuse Azerbaijani soldiers with this method, the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that when the terrorists were killed, the Armenians would claim that they were mercenaries brought from Syria by the Azerbaijani army.

Hikmet Hajiyev, assistant to Azerbaijan’s president, had said Armenia deployed the YPG/PKK terrorists to the front lines in Upper Karabakh.

Armenian soldier Albert Mikaelyan, who was taken prisoner in the operation launched by the Azerbaijani army to save its territories, also admitted that the terrorists were fighting in the Armenian ranks in Upper Karabakh and said they are paid a salary of $600.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people including women, children and infants.

Protracted conflict

Relations between the two former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Upper Karabakh.

Four UN Security Council resolutions and two from the UN General Assembly, as well as international organisations, demand the "immediate complete and unconditional withdrawal of the occupying forces" from occupied Azerbaijani territory.

In total, about 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory – including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions – has been under illegal Armenian occupation for nearly three decades.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group – co-chaired by France, Russia, and the US – was formed in 1992 to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, but to no avail. A cease-fire, however, was agreed to in 1994.

World powers, including Russia, France, and the US, have called for a new cease-fire. Turkey, meanwhile, has supported Baku's right to self-defence and demanded the withdrawal of Armenia's occupying forces.

SOURCE: AA