Azerbaijan, Baku, 6 March / corr Trend I.Alizade / the Azerbaijani Armed Forces did not attack the Armenian forces. Azerbaijan is loyal to the peace process and is keen to solve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in a peaceful way," Oktay Asadov, the Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament said on 6 March. He was addressing of the 68th Rose-Roth workshop of the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO.
The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in 1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since 1992, Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.
From the early hours of 4 March, the Armenian armed forces violated, in several directions, the peace agreement on the frontline of Azerbaijan and Armenia in the occupied territory of Azerbaijan
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said that during the gunfire with Armenia, 12 Armenian soldiers were killed and 15 injured and four Azerbaijani soldiers were killed and one sustained injuries. The situation on the frontline is relatively calm at the moment.
Asadov said that the announcement by the Armenian media on the attacks by the Azerbaijani Army is not true. "Such announcement once again testifies the anti-democratic essence of the Armenian Government," he said. Asadov stressed that by violating the ceasefire agreement, the Armenian authorities are attempting to distract the attention from the critical situation in the country.