Defense Ministry: Azerbaijan strictly observes ceasefire in Karabakh

The Azerbaijani side does not violate the ceasefire regime on the line of contact in Nagorno-Karabakh, the head of the press service of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry, Vagif Dargahli.

“We are strictly observing the ceasefire in military activities reached at 12:00 Baku time yesterday.  Information from Armenian media on ceasefire violations by Azerbaijan is misinformation," RIA Novosti cited him as saying.

Dargahli explained that the military units of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces began to strengthen the territories liberated yesterday. "We urge not to believe the provocative messages of the Armenian side," the head of the Defense Ministry's press service said.

At the same time, according to him, the Armenian side has repeatedly broken the ceasefire. "Over the last 24 hours, the Armenian Armed Forces violated the ceasefire regime on the contact line 115 times," Dargahli said, adding that they used heavy machine guns and artillery.

Recall, on the night of April 2 all frontier positions of Azerbaijan were exposed to heavy fire from large-caliber weapons, mortars, grenade launchers and guns. In addition, Azerbaijani settlements near the front line, densely populated by civilians, were shelled.

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% of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US, are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.