Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 21
Trend:
Information on losses provided by the Armenian defense ministry is unfounded and fictitious, the press service of the defense ministry of Azerbaijan said Jan. 21.
In accordance with the information of Armenian media outlets alone, the losses of the country's armed forces amount to 83 people dead and 100 wounded.
The information spread by the official representative of the Armenian defense ministry that allegedly the losses of the Armenian armed forces amounted to 57 people in 2015 doesn't coincide with the official information provided during the year.
According to approximate calculations, Armenian losses in 2015 exceeded 276 people, said the Azerbaijani ministry.
Armenians also started the year 2016 with losses, and they have been trying to cover them up. As an example, Azerbaijani defense ministry brought up the case of Armenian soldier Edgar Avetisyan, who shot himself accidentally on Jan. 19, 2016, but the Armenian side decided not to disclose the issue.
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.