Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 21
By Farhad Daneshvar, Anvar Mammadov - Trend:
Azerbaijan's integral sovereignty is of high importance for Iran, the country's Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mahmoud Vaezi told reporters in Baku Apr. 21.
Vaezi expressed sympathy for the death of civil and military personnel of Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone and condemned the occupation of the country's lands.
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.
Vaezi said the relations between Iran and Azerbaijan have never been at such a high level as they are today.
He said the two countries have established the relations of friendship and brotherhood.
"There is a great merit of the heads of our countries in the fact that we have currently reached such a level," added Vaezi.