Baku, Azerbaijan, March 12
Trend:
Armenian side, as always, deliberately hides its frontline losses under various guises and confuses its own public, Azerbaijani defense ministry told Trend March 12.
The ministry went on to add that the Armenians announce the death of their soldiers under the guise of traffic accidents, illnesses, accidents or careless handling of weapons.
Despite that the Armenian side has to reveal the death of its own soldiers on the occupied Azerbaijani territories, it skillfully hides the death of mercenaries and those drafted from the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region and deceives its people, according to the ministry.
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 withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.