The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry responded to the statement of the Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, who said that Yerevan has reached an agreement on the supply of equipment that will record the ceasefire violation cases.
"We are unaware of what was concretely discussed by Nalbandian in France. The whole international community is aware that Armenia has occupied Azerbaijani lands by using force and the main reason of the conflict is the presence of the Armenian armed forces on the occupied territories," the official representative of the Foreign Ministry Hikmet Hajiyev noted.
He also reminded that the mechanism of investigating the incidents should be one of the elements of the process of withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied Azerbaijan lands. "Otherwise, this mechanism can serve for maintaining the status quo based on the fact of occupation," Hajiyev said.
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.
