Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr. E.Huseynli / Approximately 45 soldiers and officers of the Azerbaijnai National Army have died in 2007 as a result of the violated ceasefire agreement, Eldar Safarov, the head of the Azerbaijnai Defense Ministry's press-service, reported.
The ceasefire agreement has been severely violated during the last six months causing about ten soldiers and officers of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces to lose their lives within the last three months, through landmines and breaking of the ceasefire agreement by the Armenians.
The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in 1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since 1992, Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.
