Armenia aims to delay signing of peace treaty: Azerbaijani Defense Ministry

By Ruslan Rehimov

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AA) - Armenia aims to delay the signing of a peace treaty by regularly opening fire on Azerbaijani positions on the border, an Azerbaijani Defense Ministry official said on Tuesday.

“The main purpose of the Armenian side's regular shelling of Azerbaijan Army positions is to delay the signing of a peace treaty, as well as large-scale restoration and construction work carried out in the liberated territories,” Huseyn Mahmudov, head of the International Military Cooperation Department at the Defense Ministry, said at a briefing for foreign military attaches.

Mahmudov said that by laying mines in Azerbaijani territories and on the supply roads, Armenia demonstrates behavior contrary to the trilateral statement signed by Baku, Yerevan and Moscow on Nov. 10, 2020.

“This is evidence confirming Armenia's military adventurism and revanchist position,” he added.

Stressing that Azerbaijan is committed to its obligations of the trilateral statement, he said his country is interested in establishing peace in the region through the start of demarcation and delimitation of borders.

He said that 1390 PMN-E type anti-personnel mines produced in Armenia from 2019 to 2021 were detected in the territory of Kalbajar and Lachin regions.

The military and political leadership of Armenia bears the entire responsibility for the tensions, confrontation, and losses caused by the large-scale provocations, he added.

Earlier, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said that the Armenian army carried out extensive provocations on the border in the direction of Dashkesan, Kalbajar and Lachin on Monday evening.

Sabotage groups of the Armenian army laid mines on land and roads between the positions of the Azerbaijani army in various directions, the ministry said, adding as a result of measures taken by the Azerbaijani military to address the situation, intense clashes broke out between troops of the two countries.

There were casualties among military personnel from both sides, it added.

Relations between the former Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Upper Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.

In 2020, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and over 300 settlements and villages that were occupied by Armenia, and the fighting ended with a deal brokered by Russia.

* Writing by Gozde Bayar