BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 20. Anti-terrorist activities conducted by the Azerbaijani Army in the region [Karabakh] aim to restore Azerbaijan's constitutional order, Ukrainian military expert Alexander Kovalenko told Trend.
He emphasized that Azerbaijan is conducting these activities on its internationally recognized territory, adding that they won't last long because the country will achieve its goals in a short time.
"These anti-terrorist activities are of a local nature," Kovalenko said.
The expert also touched upon the role of the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization) in this matter.
"The CSTO won't interfere in what is happening. Karabakh is internationally recognized as Azerbaijani territory, which was occupied by Armenia in the 1990s, and the anti-terrorist activities of the Azerbaijani Army don't mean an occupation of Armenia. The CSTO statute is not applicable here," he concluded.
In order to ensure the provisions of the Trilateral Statement, to stop large-scale provocations in the Karabakh economic region, to disarm and withdraw formations of the Armenian armed forces from the territories of Azerbaijan, to neutralize their military infrastructure, to ensure the safety of the peaceful population returning to the territories liberated from occupation, civil servants involved in construction and reconstruction works, and our military personnel, as well as to restore the constitutional order of the Republic of Azerbaijan, anti-terrorist measures have been launched in the region.
Only military targets belonging to illegal armed formations of the separatist regime are put out of action with the use of high-precision weapons available in the arsenal of the Azerbaijani Army.
Civilians and infrastructure objects are not targets during localized anti-terrorist activities carried out in Azerbaijan's Karabakh region.
On September 19, 2023, at 04:30 (GMT+4), as a result of a terrorist act, on a newly built tunnel road near the village of Taghavard in Khojavand district, a KAMAZ truck carrying employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan got blown up on a mine previously planted by illegal Armenian armed groups [which haven't been withdrawn contrary to the trilateral statement signed by Azerbaijani, Armenian, and Russian leaders following the 2020 second Karabakh war] on the territory of Azerbaijan, where Russian peacekeepers are temporarily stationed [under the trilateral statement].
The truck was on its way to the site of the terrorist attack that took place on the same day at the 58th kilometer of the Ahmadbayli-Fuzuli-Shusha road passing through the Khojavand district, which killed employees of the State Road Agency of Azerbaijan.
The employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Asim Jamalzade, Ramil Shirinov, Seymur Mahmudov, and Khazar Zamanov, died on the spot.