Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 19 / Trend A.Huseynbala /
Armenia must be penalized for systematically violating the cease-fire agreement, Azerbaijani MP Elman Mammadov said.
"The fact that Armenia had not been penalized for cease-fire violations encourages it to new actions. Armenians violate the cease-fire even while the OSCE Monitoring Group monitors the contact line. The Azerbaijani army is capable of giving a fitting rebuff to the enemy every time they violate the cease-fire," he told Trend today.
Azerbaijani Defense Ministry's report said that Armenian armed forces had fired Azerbaijani army posts in the village of Tapqaraqoyunlu in the Geranboy region, the villages of Gizil Oba and Gapanli in the Tartar region and the villages of Yusifjanli and Javashirli in the Agdam region with automatic rifles and machine guns Feb. 18.
Three Azerbaijani soldiers were killed and one was wounded as a result of Armenia's actions.
Mammadov said that the reason for the frequent violations by Armenian of the cease-fire is connected to the protection of Armenia's interests by the OSCE.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a cease-fire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the United States - are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the occupied territories.
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