Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan announced the desire of the republic to stop military operations in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
"Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh are in favor of the military ceasefire. Armenia is ready for compromises in the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," RIA Novosti cited him as saying.
At the same time, the President of Armenia asked for the return of all military units to their positions they held before April 1, 2016.
Azerbaijani foreign ministry spokesman Hikmat Hajiyev said that Azerbaijan is ready for a ceasefire, stressing that the Armenian armed forces must withdraw from all the occupied territories of Azerbaijan in line with the UN Security Council resolutions, adding that Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and sovereignty should be ensured within the internationally recognized borders. Hajiyev recalled that the country decided to unilaterally suspend the counterattack and response measures on April 3.
Sargsyan's statement was made after the failure of the Armenian Armed attack on Azerbaijani positions on Monday, the details of which were reported by the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry. According to the ministry, the Azerbaijani armed forces destroyed three tanks and eliminated around 30 servicemen of the Armenian armed forces. According to the Ministry of Defense, Armenia's military units tried to attack Azerbaijani positions in the direction of Khojavend-Fizuli districts, crushing blows were inflicted on the enemy positions by return fire. An enemy battery was also destroyed in addition to tanks and troops.
"The Armed Forces of Azerbaijan used heavy flamethrower systems (HFS) in the area of the Karabakh conflict. The Armenian side has suffered significant losses," the head of the press service of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry, Vagif Dargahli, said. The Heavy Flamethrower System TOS-1A is a 24-barrel multiple rocket launcher mounted on a T-72 tank chassis. The caliber of the pipe is 220 mm. TOS-1A Solntsepyok heavy flamethrowers allow destruction of enemy at the area of 40 thousand square meters.
The political scientist Rovshan Ibragimov said in an interview with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza that these three days of fighting have changed a lot, including the Armenian side's views on the alignment of forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. "In the first place, the stereotype was destroyed that Azerbaijan wouldn't use its military force and wouldn't move further the existing front line. At the same time, another stereotype was also destroyed that the defense line of the Armenian Armed Forces is impregnable and Azerbaijan will not be able to overcome it, although it managed to do it quite easily and in a short time," he said.
Thus, it became quite obvious that Yerevan's confidence that "the Armenian army is invincible and Baku has no potential, nor the ability to fight against it" isn't real.
"Azerbaijan also showed determination in restoring its territorial integrity. After all, it's in the interests of Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh people to resolve this problem through negotiations within the framework of the recognition of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan as soon as possible," Rovshan Ibragimov concluded.
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 the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
