Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 12
By Seba Aghayeva - Trend:
Armenia, escalating situation by means of purposeful sabotages, pursues a policy of harming the negotiation process and aims to preserve the status quo, which emerged due to aggression and occupation, the head of the press service of Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry, Hikmet Hajiyev, told Trend Jan. 12.
"Armenia, which is reigned by political, economic, demographic and social crisis, through such actions aims at diverting the attention of the country's public from internal problems," he said.
Hajiyev further noted that the escalation of tension and the casualties along the line of contact of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops is caused by the Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan and the presence of its armed forces in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
He said that for a peaceful settlement of the conflict, Armenia must first of all withdraw its troops from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
"In order to put an end to Armenia's destructive policy and purposeful provocative actions, to ensure the Armenian troops' withdrawal from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, it is needed to seriously consider taking coercive measures against Armenia, including sanctions, which are stipulated by the UN Charter," Hajiyev said.
The spokesman for Armenia's Defense Ministry, Artsrun Hovhannisyan said on his Facebook page that in accordance with international humanitarian rules, on Jan. 11, the Armenian armed forces allegedly allowed Azerbaijan to take the corpse of an Azerbaijani "saboteur", who was killed during "diversionary attacks" in the direction of Tavush region.
The information spread by the Armenian side on losses allegedly suffered by Azerbaijan's armed forces along the line of contact of troops, the Armenians' alleged permission to take the corpse of an Azerbaijani, as well as the Azerbaijani servicemen's alleged killing of an Armenian shepherd, are absolute lies, the head of the press service of Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry, Colonel Vagif Dergahli told Trend Jan. 12.
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 four UN Security Council resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.
Edited by SI
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