Aliyev: Armenia Ignores Initiatives of OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs

The Armenian provocation was foiled, and the Azerbaijani army liberated important strategic positions and even strengthened its advantage on the line of contact with the enemy. This was stated by the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev late at night on April 2-3 at the Security Council meeting in connection with the events at the front on 2 April.

According to him, a few days ago on the border with Armenia in the Gazakh region of Azerbaijan a similar provocation was made by the adversary. Then, as a result of the offensive provocation by the Armenian armed forces two Azeri soldiers were killed.

"Today, the Azerbaijani army has given an adequate response to the provocation of the Armenian army. We have dealt a serious blow to the enemy, and the enemy suffered heavy losses... Our army has taken important strategic position. Azerbaijan has strengthened its advantage on the line of contact with the enemy," Aliyev said.

And in the future, no enemy provocation will go unanswered, he added.

Armenia resorted to provocations, because it does not want to solve the Karabakh conflict and all its efforts are aimed at maintaining the current status quo. The negotiations around the Karabakh conflict settlement have been maintained for 20 years. And every time at a decisive fateful moment Armenia has resorted to provocation, Aliyev said.

He reminded that the Armenian parliament shooting in 1999 was made on the eve of taking important steps to address the problem. Or when in 2014 the French President F. Hollande made a peacekeeping mission to strengthen security measures on the line of contact, immediately after that Armenia began large-scale military exercises in the Aghdam direction.

"Many times I gave the order not to succumb to provocations of the Armenian army. But then the enemy provocations became more ferocious. They attacked our positions and lifted military helicopters into air. And after that the Azerbaijani army destroyed one of the military helicopters. It was necessary for Armenians to show that Azerbaijan violates ceasefire and behaves aggressively," Aliyev continued.

This time, they also acted this way. Therefore, Azerbaijan does not violate the truce. "We gave an adequate response to the provocation. As long as the Armenian army does not give up provocations, the Azerbaijani army will punish them," said Aliyev.

As Aliyev noted with regret, numerous statements of the Heads of State - the OSCE Minsk Group do not have any influence on the leadership of Armenia. Repeatedly the Presidents of Russia, US and France stated on the inadmissibility of the status quo and the need to address this problem.

 "Recently, the President and the Foreign Minister of Russia, along with other co-chairs, made several suggestions. We welcome them. These proposals dealt with the preservation of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan," Aliyev said.

The official meetings in the United States also showed that the US side, the US government is interested in the soonest settlement of the conflict. "I know that the head of Armenia received certain signals and messages. In recent years, the co-chairmen and heads of state are trying to resolve this issue. And before the completion of the Nuclear Security Summit Armenia committed this dirty provocation and a blow to the peace process. And then they are trying to shift the blame on Azerbaijan," Aliyev underscored.  -06D--