Baku, Azerbaijan, April 9
Trend:
Congressman from New Jersey (USA) Donald Payne on Friday issued a statement condemning the military actions of Armenia against Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan's embassy in USA told Trend.
Payne welcomed Azerbaijan's proposal of an unilaterall ceasefire. He noted that despite the proposal of Azerbaijan, the Armenian side has continued military operations.
The congressman also called upon the Armenian side to comply with the ceasefire and not to start military aggression again.
At the end Payne said that the time to resolve the conflict that generates tragedy is long overdue, noting the importance of withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.
Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.
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 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.