Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 19
Trend:
Under an instruction of Azerbaijan's supreme commander-in-chief, a large amount of funds will be allocated for acquisition of modern weapons and equipment for the country's army, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry told Trend Apr. 19.
The ministry was commenting on the reports about the collection of $6.5 million to provide the Armenian occupying forces with the modern weaponry.
"Armenians' becoming active after the recent developments along the line of contact between the Armenian and Azerbaijani troops is of provocative nature only, and, as always, such words as "volunteers", "diaspora" and "rich Armenians" are used in standard inspirational news stories spread by the Armenian side," said the ministry.
"Unlike Armenia, the economic potential of Azerbaijan enables to provide the country's armed forces with the most modern weapons and military equipment," according to the ministry.
"Following the recent incidents, the president of Azerbaijan, the supreme commander-in-chief, declared that the care and attention to the country's armed forces will rapidly increase," said the ministry. "In addition, work is underway to provide the necessary financial and social assistance to the families of those killed and wounded during the prevention of Armenia's recent provocations."
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.