BAKU, Azerbaijan, Oct. 9
Trend:
Destruction of the church in Shusha city, Nagorno-Karabakh region during the hostilities isn’t anyhow related to the activities of the Azerbaijani army, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said, commenting on allegations of Armenian media sources about missile strike on the church, Trend reports.
The ministry also stressed that, unlike the Armenian Armed Forces, which, during the shelling of Ganja on October 4, damaged civilian objects, residential buildings, as well as the Imamzade complex, which is a religious-architectural monument, the Azerbaijani army does not target historical, cultural features religious buildings and monuments.
After examining the video footage of the destruction of the church spread by the Armenian media, Azerbaijani military expert, reserve colonel Shair Ramaldanov said that although black smoke is visible in the first footage, no signs of fire were noted in the footage shown inside the church.
According to Ramaldanov, the fact that all the icons in the sanctuary are in their places, the place of prayers, even the glass on the windows remained intact, which are the signs absolutely not characteristic of a missile strike, give reason to believe that no explosion took place inside the church.
“If the hole in the ceiling was formed as a result of the missile strike, heavy destructions and fire would be inevitable inside the room, and if the missile exploded outside the building, then at least the wooden roof structures would have burned," he explained. “On the other hand, analysis of the place hit by the missile, as well as the image on Google Maps show that the 'strike' came not from the Azerbaijani, but from the Armenian side. Following the logic of Armenians, our missile flew over the church, then turned around and hit the building from the Armenian side.”
The allegation about the church’s destruction by Azerbaijani Armed Forces is beyond common sense, again showing that Armenia is trying to indiscriminately accuse Azerbaijan of vandalism, to cause international indignation and censure against our country, he noted.
As the expert said, due to obvious failures on the battlefield, the military-political leadership of Armenia is trying in every possible way to provoke Azerbaijan.
“Moreover, Armenia, which for many years has been destroying and turning religious monuments belonging to Azerbaijan into ruins, intends to use this provocation to draw attention to Azerbaijan and mispresent the struggle of our country for its territorial integrity as a religious war,” Ramaldanov pointed out.
Armenian Armed Forces launched a large-scale military attack on positions of Azerbaijani army on the front line, using large-caliber weapons, mortars and artillery on Sept. 27.
Azerbaijan responded with a counter-offensive along the entire front. As a result of retaliation, Azerbaijani troops liberated a number of territories previously occupied by Armenia, as well as take important, strategic heights under control.
The fighting continued into October 2020, in the early days of which Armenia has launched missile attacks on Azerbaijani cities of Ganja, Mingachevir, Khizi as well as Absheron district.
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.