Azerbaijan lambasts Armenian Defence Ministry

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has said the Armenian Defence Ministry's actions are at odds with an appeal by Andrzej Kasprzyk, the personal representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, who urged sides involved in the conflict over Karabakh to observe ceasefire, the Azerbaijani APA news agency reported on 28 March.


The head of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry's press service, Hikmat Haciyev, said that the "Armenian Defence Ministry's provocative attitude contravenes this appeal". "Representatives of the Armenian Foreign Ministry made contradictory and adventurous statements that distorted the essence of negotiations process. Intensively violating the ceasefire regime using heavy weapons, Armenia continued taking actions aimed at escalating the situation on the line of contact [between the troops of Azerbaijan and its breakaway Nagornyy Karabakh] and the Armenian-Azerbaijani border," the agency quoted Haciyev as saying.


Haciyev said that the 27 March fighting on the Azerbaijan-Armenia border that the claimed the lives of two soldiers was yet another confirmation that Armenia was aimed at continuing occupation of Azerbaijani lands, destabilising the situation, making impossible resolution of the Karabakh conflict and changing the status-quo.


"The presence of the Armenian Armed Forces in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan is the main threat to peace and security in the region that become the main reason for raising tensions and cease-fire violation," Haciyev said.


He also called on the Armenian Armed Forces to withdraw from Azerbaijan's territories. "Otherwise, all responsibilities for the situation will rest on Armenia, the occupying country," Haciyev said.

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