AZERBAIJANI ARMY ON FULL ALERT IN CONTACT LINE WITH ARMENIAN ARMED FORCES
Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
April 24 2008
Azerbaijan, Baku, 24 April / corr. TrendNews I. Alizade/ The Armed
Forces of Azerbaijan is on full alert in the contact line between
Azerbaijan and the Armenian armed forces in connection with the
so-called ‘Armenian genocide’ marked by Armenians on 24 April.
"The Armed Forces of Azerbaijan is on full alert," the press service
of the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan said to TrendNews on 24 April.
Armenia has accused Turkey of committing genocide against 1,500
Armenians in 1915-17 during the Ottoman empire. Diplomatic relations
between Armenia and Turkey have ceased with the Armenia-Turkey border
closed since 1993 at the initiative of official Ankara. The Turkish
government dismisses statements on the imaginary Armenian genocide and
officially states that the resettlement of the Armenian population for
the security in the Ottoman empire cannot be described as genocide. The
Turkish Premier, Rajap Tayyib Erdogan, officially called on Armenia
to study the archives of both countries and to set up joint history
groups to analyze the event that took place in 1915. Armenia has not
yet responded.
Armenian armed forces became more active in the contact line and
fired at Azerbaijani positions on 24 April. During the last few
days the Armenians have been conducting military training in the
occupied Azerbaijani territory and near the contact line. "Any form
of provocation will be prevented," the Ministry of Defense said.
The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began
in 1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since
1992, Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including
the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts. In
1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which
time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding peaceful
negotiations.