Armenian armed forces have 120 times violated the ceasefire using 82mm mortars (46 shells), sniper rifles and large-caliber machine guns along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops over the last 24 hours, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said on Feb.25.
Armenian armed units stationed on nameless heights and Shavarshavan village of Armenia’s Noyemberyan district, on nameless heights of Ijevan district opened fire at the positions of Azerbaijani armed forces located in Farahli village and on nameless heights of Azerbaijan’s Gazakh district.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijani army positions located in Munjuglu, Aghbulag villages of Tovuz district came under fire from Armenian positions located in Aygepar and Chinari villages of Berd district.
Azerbaijani army positions located on nameless heights of Gadabay district were also shelled from Armenian positions located on nameless heights of Krasnoselsk district.
Azerbaijani army positions came under fire from Armenian positions located near the Armenian-occupied Goyarkh, Chilaburt villages of Terter district, Shikhlar, Garagashli, Namirli, Marzili villages of Aghdam district, Kuropatkino village of Khojavand district, Garakhanbeyli, Gorgan villages of Fuzuli district, as well as on nameless heights of Goranboy, Terter, Aghdam, Khojavand, Fuzuli and Jabrayil districts.
Adequate response measures have been taken by Azerbaijani military units in accordance with the operating conditions.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict entered its modern phase when the Armenian SRR made territorial claims against the Azerbaijani SSR in 1988.
A fierce war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. As a result of the war, Armenian armed forces occupied some 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory which includes Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts (Lachin, Kalbajar, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Gubadli and Zangilan), and over a million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced people.
The military operations finally came to an end when Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in Bishkek in 1994.
Dealing with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the OSCE Minsk Group, which was created after the meeting of the CSCE (OSCE after the Budapest summit held in Dec.1994) Ministerial Council in Helsinki on 24 March 1992. The Group’s members include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belarus, Finland and Sweden.
Besides, the OSCE Minsk Group has a co-chairmanship institution, comprised of Russian, the US and French co-chairs, which began operating in 1996.
Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 of the UN Security Council, which were passed in short intervals in 1993, and other resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly, PACE, OSCE, OIC, and other organizations require Armenia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh.
