Baku, Azerbaijan, July 13
Trend:
Talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement are not bearing fruit while tensions are growing in the zone of military operations, Azerbaijan's Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov said in an interview with RIA Novosti.
“Tensions have grown in recent years in the zone of military operations where Armenian troops are deployed against the Azerbaijani armed forces. The single reason for this is the occupation of Azerbaijani lands,” Hasanov said.
“All the rest is a consequence. The occupied territories are not liberated, and negotiations are not bringing any results.”
It should be noted that on July 4 at about 20:40 (GMT+4 hours), the Armenian armed forces again violated ceasefire and, using 82-mm and 120-mm mortars and grenade launchers, shelled Azerbaijani positions and territories where the civilian population lives, namely the Alkhanli village of the country’s Fuzuli district, thereby grossly violating the requirements of international law, the Azerbaijani defense ministry said earlier.
As a result of this provocation, the residents of the village Sahiba Allahverdiyeva, 50, and Zahra Guliyeva, 2, were killed. Salminaz Guliyeva, 52, who got wounded, was taken to the hospital and was operated on.
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, in 1992 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 withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.