BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 25
Trend:
A lot has changed in our region since our last meeting, it is a pity that the region has not become a safer place, unfortunately, the situation is deteriorating, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said when receiving EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia Toivo Klaar, Trend reports.
“This is mainly due to Armenia's ongoing military provocations against Azerbaijan. The most aggressive step was taken by Armenia on 12 July. They used artillery to fire on our military positions and villages. As a result, there were casualties among servicemen and a civilian was killed. Many houses were destroyed in the villages near the state border with Armenia. Prior to that, Armenia's military provocations on the state border between Armenia and Azerbaijan were regular in nature. However, it was not as aggressive as this time,” the head of state said.
“As you know, some time ago, our army was withdrawn from the border and now a large section of the state border with Armenia is guarded by the border service. This shows that we have no military intentions on the state border with Armenia. This may have sent them a wrong message. They thought they could attack us, cross the state border and occupy new territories. This is in line with the statement of the Armenian defense minister. He made this statement while in the United States, saying that Armenia would start a new war for new territories. This clearly demonstrates the continuation of Armenia's aggressive behavior. The purpose of the attacks in July was mainly to occupy new territories of Azerbaijan and then gain a stronger position at the negotiating table. The second reason was to divert the attention of the Armenian population from internal problems and difficulties. Another reason, I think, was that they wanted to involve third parties in the conflict. Immediately after the defeat, they turned to the Collective Security Treaty Organization for help,” Azerbaijani president said.