Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 27
Trend:
An Azerbaijani civilian was killed in the shelling of villages of Azerbaijan's Aghdam district by Armenian military on the night of September 26.
Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry told Trend Sept. 27 that the Armenian military used mortars to fire at Azerbaijani villages, as a result killing Azerbaijani civilian Bahram Baghirov.
"Armenians try to compensate their failures on the battlefield by firing at our settlements, killing civilians," said the ministry.
The ministry added that in such a situation, an indifferent attitude by international organizations to the firing at Azerbaijani settlements and killing of Azerbaijani civilians is inadmissible and unacceptable.
"Given the tense situation on the line of contact between troops, and ensuring of safety of civilians and servicemen, our Armed Forces reserve the right to carry out strikes on the opposite side's military facilities using more destructive means without any special preliminary warning, and Armenia's military and political leadership would bear the responsibility for the consequences of this," the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry noted.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.