Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 27
By Elchin Mehdiyev – Trend:
Committing provocations on the contact line, deliberately attacking Azerbaijani positions and violating agreements are the features peculiar to Armenia, Aydin Mirzazade, Azerbaijani MP, told Trend Feb. 27.
Mirzazade said the recent tensions on the line of contact are aimed, firstly, at gaining additional political dividends in the upcoming parliamentary election in Armenia.
“However, Armenia forgets that Azerbaijan, confronting it today, is no longer the same as it was in the 1990s. Our state is strong enough from the economic point of view, it has great prestige in the international community,” he noted. “Moreover, today the Azerbaijani army has the most modern equipment. Armenia’s recent provocations on the line of contact don’t do credit to it.”
“Armenia will have to answer for all its actions, for the bloodshed,” added the Azerbaijani MP.
“The recent events show that the Armenian leadership learned nothing from the events of April 2016,” said Mirzazade. “If so, we are ready to teach them again.”
Armenian army attempted to infiltrate through the Azerbaijani positions along the line of contact on the night from Feb. 24 to Feb. 25, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said earlier. The Armenian side attempted to seize favorable positions on the Khojavand-Fuzuli part of the frontline, said the ministry, adding heavy battles took place between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops.
The Armenian side’s large-scale provocation attempt was timely detected and resolutely prevented, said the ministry.
“Azerbaijani military units courageously prevented the attacks and the Armenian side was forced to retreat,” according to the Defense Ministry.
Azerbaijan had casualties as a result of the battles.
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.