Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 11
Trend:
Azerbaijani armed forces proved that they justify the trust of the Azerbaijani people, the country's minister of defense, colonel-general Zakir Hasanov said Apr. 11 at the farewell ceremony for the Azerbaijani servicemen killed during the prevention of Armenian provocations on the contact line of the two countries' troops.
On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.
Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.
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 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
"I would like to emphasize that the martyrs will be avenged, and our lands liberated from the occupation," the minister said.
He went on to add that Armenian fascists have been committing crimes, genocide for hundreds of years, and if they aren't stopped, these crimes will continue.
"I would like to note that our martyrs have proved to the whole world that Azerbaijani people are heroic," the minister said. "They have fulfilled their sacred duty."
Hasanov cited the words by Azerbaijani National Leader Heydar Aliyev that every soldier, every officer of the country's army should know that Azerbaijan's territorial integrity must be recovered at any cost.