BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 27
Trend:
A meeting of the Security Council was held under the chairmanship of Azerbaijani President, Supreme Commander of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev, Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan, Head of the Department for Foreign Policy Affairs of Azerbaijan’s Presidential Administration Hikmat Hajiyev said, Trend reports.
“The heads of relevant structures, including the prime minister and speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament, attended the meeting,” Hajiyev said. “In accordance with the current situation, the president gave instructions to the relevant structures.”
The Armenian armed forces committed a large-scale provocation, subjecting the positions of the Azerbaijani army along the entire front line and the Azerbaijani settlements located in the front-line zone to intensive shelling from large-caliber weapons, mortars, and artillery installations of various calibers in the front-line zone on Sept. 27 at 06:00 (GMT+4).
To suppress the combat activity of the Armenian armed forces and ensure the safety of the civilians, the command of the Azerbaijani Army decided to launch a counter-offensive operation of Azerbaijani troops along the entire front.
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.