Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry: Armenian Provocation at Border Aimed at Derailing Peace Process

Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry blamed the escalation of tension on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border by the Armenian armed forces in recent days.

As the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry official representative Hikmet Hajiyev stated on 25 September, "the armed forces of Armenia, seriously violating their obligations under international humanitarian law, continue targeted actions against the civilian population."

"As a result of the last of this kind of provocation by Armenia on September 23, a villager from Kemerli in the Gazakh region of Azerbaijan, Esmira Aslan Gyzy Dursunova was wounded," said Hajiyev.

According to him, especially by placing the firing points in civilian facilities and close to them, Armenia is trying to make its civilian population targeted by return fire. This tactics typical of terrorists is used to protect them by civilians and civilian objects. In the first place it is a war crime against the citizens of Armenia.

Hajiyev reaffirmed Azerbaijan's obligations under the Geneva Conventions and its Additional Protocols, and these documents are part of compulsory education-training program of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces.

Protection of civilians, helping women, children and the elderly is common to the Azerbaijani people and their army of high moral values. The policy of ethnic cleansing against the Azerbaijani people, the genocide in Khojali, the shelling of Azerbaijani civilians along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and even military use of its own citizens as a cover and an object of provocations are part of the inhuman policy of military and political leadership of Armenia, continued Hajiyev.

"The aggravation of the situation along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border by Armenia on the eve of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly at a time, when the problems of peace and security are seriously discussed and with the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group in New York negotiations are held between the foreign ministers of the two countries to resolve the conflict is provocative. The goal is to prevent progress in the negotiation process," Hajiyev noted.

The reason for the violation of the ceasefire along the line of contact and the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia and the aggravation of the situation is a continuation of the policy of aggression and occupation used by Armenia against Azerbaijan, Hajiyev said.

 "Armenia bears the responsibility for the continuation of the aggression and occupation of Azerbaijani territories," Hajiyev summed.

Recall that talks of the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia during the UN General Assembly session's opening were planned earlier. -06d--