Baku, Azerbaijan, March 19
Trend:
Azerbaijani Armed Forces will take all measures to prevent Armenia's terrorist activities, a message of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said March 19.
"Despite the fact that the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry positively reacted to the call of the Personal Representative to the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk to strictly adhere to the ceasefire, the Armenian side, as usual, negatively reacted to the peace initiative," said the message.
The Armenian side's statement about "strict adherence to the ceasefire within the borders of Armenia" is actually nothing but an attempt to legitimize the occupation of Azerbaijani territories, said the ministry.
Azerbaijani Defense Ministry called on international organizations to assess the actions of Armenia and states that the country's Armed Forces, using all kinds of weapons, will take all measures to prevent terrorist activities along the contact line of the Armenian-Azerbaijani troops.
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.