ITAR-TASS, Russia
 Saturday 11:32 AM GMT



Azerbaijan 220 times violates ceasefire in Karabakh - Armenian ministry

YEREVAN August 19

Armenia’s Defense Ministry claimed Azerbaijan had violated ceasefire
in the area of Karabakh conflict 220 times.


YEREVAN, August 19. /TASS/. Armenia’s Defense Ministry claimed
Azerbaijan had violated ceasefire in the area of Karabakh conflict 220
times.

"Between August 13 and 19, along the line of engagement between the
armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan the enemy continued
violating ceasefire," the Armenian Defense Ministry said in a
statement on Saturday, referring to date of the Nagorno-Karabakh armed
forces. "The ceasefire was violated more than 220 times, as the
military made more than 3,300 shots."

The situation along the contact line of conflicting sides in
Nagorno-Karabakh deteriorated dramatically overnight to April 2, 2016
when fierce clashes began. The parties to the conflict accused each
other of violating the truce. On April 5, a ceasefire agreement was
reached with Russia’s mediation. Since then, the parties to the
conflict have been reporting about periodic exchanges of fire in the
region.

In a trilateral statement adopted on June 20, 2016, following a summit
of Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents in St. Petersburg, the
sides confirmed their commitment to the normalization of the situation
along the disengagement line in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

The highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh (Mountainous Karabakh) is a
mostly Armenian-populated enclave inside the sovereign territory of
Azerbaijan. It was the first zone of inter-ethnic tensions and
violence to appear on the map of the former USSR.

Even almost a quarter of a century after the breakup of the Soviet
Union, Karabakh remains a so-called 'frozen conflict' on the
post-Soviet space, as the region is the subject of a dispute between
Azerbaijan and the local Armenian population that draws on strong
support from fellow-countrymen in neighboring Armenia.

In 1988, hostilities broke out there between the forces reporting to
the government in Baku and Armenian residents, which resulted in the
region's de facto independence. In 1994, a ceasefire was reached but
the relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia remain strained ever
since then.

Russia, France and the U.S. co-chair the Minsk Group of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which attempts to
broker an end to hostilities and the conflict.