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No accidental timing for Armenia’s provocation against Azerbaijan

Politics Materials 18 April 2016 17:11 (UTC +04:00)
The timing of Armenia’s criminal provocation against Azerbaijan wasn’t chosen accidentally, while the West and Azerbaijan were strengthening relations
No accidental timing for Armenia’s provocation against Azerbaijan

Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 18

By Elmira Tariverdiyeva - Trend:

The timing of Armenia's criminal provocation against Azerbaijan wasn't chosen accidentally, while the West and Azerbaijan were strengthening relations, Samad Seyidov, head of the Azerbaijani delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), said.

Seyidov, who is also chairman of the international and interparliamentary relations committee at the parliament of Azerbaijan, made the remarks Apr. 18 speaking at the PACE spring session in Strasbourg, according to the assembly's website.

"We will witness even greater tragedies if we appease the aggressor," Seyidov said.

Ethnic cleansing in Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region and other occupied territories led to the fact that not a single Azerbaijani lives there, according to him.

However, as many as 30,000 Armenians live in Azerbaijan and this means that all the provocations aimed to show that the two peoples cannot live in peace are groundless, he said.

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.

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