Baku, Azerbaijan, April 3
By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:
Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan talked over phone with Azerbaijani and Armenian counterparts about the situation in occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.
Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan has called for a truce and resolving the existing dispute through negotiations, IRNA news agency reported.
On the night of April 2, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars, grenade launchers and guns.
On the same day, responding to the Armenian aggression, Azerbaijani armed forces launched counter-attack operations against Armenia that led to the liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.
Later, taking into account the international organizations' appeals, Azerbaijan announced unilateral suspension of the counter-attacks and response measures in the territories occupied by Armenia.
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.