BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 22
Trend:
The situation on the Tovuz direction remains calm, there was no new attacks from the Azerbaijani side on the Armenian armed forces, said the head of Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry Vagif Dargahli, Trend reports.
"The situation in this area is calm, we haven't launched any attacks, nor have any losses," he said.
"We did hear some shooting on the Armenian side. It seems that there was a shootout between the servicemen of the Armenian armed forces," he said.
Once again, I'd like to note that we haven't had any losses, despite what the Armenian side is trying to claim, Dargahli said.
Following continuous ceasefire violations of Armenia's armed forces, the country launched another military provocation against Azerbaijan on July 12. Grossly violating the ceasefire regime, Armenian armed forces opened fire in the direction of Azerbaijan's Tovuz district.
As a result of the appropriate measures, the Armenian armed forces were silenced. The tensions continued on the border, July 12 night. During the night battles, by using artillery, mortars and tanks, the Azerbaijani armed forces destroyed a stronghold, army vehicles.
The fighting continued in the following several days as well. Azerbaijan lost several military personnel members, who died fighting off the attacks of the Armenian armed forces. As a result of the shelling, many houses in the Tovuz district's border villages were damaged.
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, 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 the withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts.