BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov.3
By Ilhama Isabalayeva – Trend:
Azerbaijan has reliable information about Armenian Armed Forces’ involving mercenaries from Lebanon, Syria, EU, and other countries, including Canada, into their ranks, Assistant to the Azerbaijani President, Head of the Foreign Policy Department of the Presidential Administration Hikmat Hajiyev said.
Hajiyev made the remark at the briefing, Trend reports on Nov. 3.
According to him, the mercenaries are currently present in the occupied territories and used against the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan.
“Although most of them are of Armenian nationality, there are people of other nationalities among them, as well,” he noted.
As the president’s assistant also said, terrorist organizations openly, via the Internet, attract various mercenaries from foreign countries to Armenia, who are offered material rewards in exchange for this.
He added that Azerbaijan doesn’t need mercenaries and the Azerbaijani army independently carries out all the tasks assigned to it.
Armenian Armed Forces launched a large-scale military attack on positions of the Azerbaijani army on the front line, using large-caliber weapons, mortars, and artillery on Sept. 27.
Azerbaijan responded with a counter-offensive along the entire front. As a result of retaliation, Azerbaijani troops liberated a number of territories previously occupied by Armenia, as well as take important, strategic heights under control.
The fighting continued into October 2020, in the early days of which Armenia has launched missile attacks on Azerbaijani cities of Ganja, Mingachevir, Khizi as well as Absheron district.
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, the 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.