Armenia accuses Azerbaijan of “violating cease-fire” to undermine chances for dialogue

The Government of Armenia has accused the Azerbaijani Army of “serious violations of the ceasefire regime” with the aim of undermining the chances of success of contacts at the bilateral level to reach a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry has said in a statement that the Azeri Armed Forces carried out attacks on Armenian territory on Wednesday, causing three casualties, a toll confirmed by the Armenian Defense Ministry.

“The recent provocation carried out by Azerbaijan in continuation of its large-scale aggression against the territorial integrity of Armenia on September 13 is a clear disregard for the calls of the international community and the member states of the UN Security Council to maintain the ceasefire,” it has argued.

“This is a reaffirmation of the warnings by Armenia that Azerbaijan intends to continue its policy of use of force and maximalism,” he has said, before stressing that Baku “seeks to affect the meeting of the foreign ministers of the two countries, the organization of which is under discussion.”

Thus, he has asked the international community for “effective steps” and activation of “Relevant mechanisms” to make Azerbaijan “strictly comply” with the ceasefire, achieve the withdrawal of its forces from Armenian territory and “prevent further aggression.”

In response, the Azeri Foreign Ministry has called Yerevan’s accusations “groundless” and said that this “clearly demonstrates that Armenia is pursuing the goal of worsening the situation in the region.”

In this way, he has accused the Armenian Armed Forces of opening fire on his positions during Wednesday, wounding a serviceman. “In response to the provocation by Armenia, which violated the ceasefire, the Azeri Army took appropriate measures,” he has explained.

“There is no doubt that the provocations from the Armenian side, which long ago acquired the character of tradition, took place on purpose on the eve of the upcoming high-level meeting,” he has indicated, before accusing Armenia of “playing the same game and making the people victims of its clumsy policies.”

“It is clear that this is another pretext by Armenia to affect the negotiation process. Armenia’s leadership should not aggravate the situation in the region, should not raise reservations to the negotiation process, should stop the practice of accusing the international community and should sit at the negotiation table,” he has stressed.

Finally, he has defended that Baku “is the one who has set the peace agenda in motion with the opening of transport communications in the region and the materialization of large-scale reconstruction works in the territories liberated from occupation.”

“Azerbaijan is not interested in creating tensions in the region, but any provocation against our country will be resolutely avoided,” the Azeri Foreign Ministry has settled through a commentary published through its website.