Baku says Armenia artificially escalates tensions in region by shelling Azerbaijani positions

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Azerbaijan on Thursday said Armenia, by shelling military positions of the country on the Azerbaijan-Armenia border and in Karabakh, artificially escalated tensions in the region.

“By systematically shelling our positions, the Armed Forces of Armenia are provoking our army to return fire, thereby trying to form the wrong opinion among the representatives of the civil mission of the European Union operating on the conditional border, as well as attempting to artificially escalate tension in the region,” a statement by the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry read.

The statement said positions of the Azerbaijan army on the Azerbaijan-Armenia border, particularly in the Karabakh region, were fired 23 times between 9.30 p.m. (1730GMT) on Wednesday and 4.15 a.m. (0015GMT) on Thursday.

“We once again state that the military-political leadership of the official Iravan bears all responsibility for the provocations that may be committed by Armenia and their resulting in human casualties,” the statement noted.

Tensions in the Karabakh region flared up one again as at least two Azerbaijani soldiers were killed last Sunday when Armenian forces opened fire on them after Azerbaijani troops attempted to stop and check vehicles carrying out “illegal military transports” through the Khankendi-Khalfali-Turshsu road, where a Russian peacekeeping contingent has been temporarily stationed since the aftermath of the fall 2020 conflict in the Karabakh region and a January 2021 pact with Baku and Yerevan.

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

In the fall of 2020, in 44 days of clashes, Azerbaijan liberated several cities, villages and settlements from Armenian occupation. The Russian-brokered peace agreement is celebrated as a triumph in Azerbaijan.​​​​​​​