Azerbaijan urges Armenia to stop provocative steps at border

By Gozde Bayar

ANKARA (AA) – Azerbaijan called on Armenia to refrain from provocations and deliberate aggravation at the border, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

“We call on the military-political leadership of Armenia to refrain from provocations and deliberate aggravation of the situation on the state border of the two countries and to start negotiations on the delimitation of the state border in a civil manner,” said a ministry statement.

Two Azerbaijani soldiers were wounded by Armenian shelling in the Kalbajar section of the Caucasus countries’ border, Azerbaijan’s military said early Wednesday.

Azerbaijan reaffirmed that Armenia’s military-political leadership bears full responsibility for the aggravation of the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

It stressed that all provocations committed by Armenia will continue to be resolutely blocked to ensure the inviolability of Azerbaijan’s borders.

The ministry said in a separate statement that Azerbaijan accepted Russia’s initiative to declare a cease-fire on the border starting at 10 a.m. local time (0600GMT).

“In spite of this, the Armenian side continues to aggravate the situation and shell our positions additionally using tanks and 120-millimeter mortars,” 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, and seven adjacent regions

New clashes erupted last September and ended on Nov. 10 with a Russia-brokered cease-fire.

During the 44-day conflict, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and nearly 300 settlements and villages from Armenia’s nearly three-decade occupation.​​​​​​​