Armenia vows retaliatory measures after deadly Azeri shellingSeptember 25, 2015 - 10:52 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenian Defense Ministry issued a statement on Azerbaijan’s ceasefire violations on Thursday, September 24 and its consequences. The Ministry’s message reads: “The Azerbaijani side violated ceasefire on September 24 on the northeastern part of the border with Armenia, using various caliber weapons and mortars. They shelled border villages, killing civilians in the province of Tavush. It is worth mentioning that Azerbaijan provokes the situation ahead of peace talks and meetings on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement, deliberately escalating the situation on the border. All this proves once again that the political leadership of the neighboring state ignores initiatives on peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict and regularly destabilizes the situation at the contact line. The Armenian Defense Ministry once again calls on the Azerbaijani side to avoid escalation and take effective measures to stabilize the situation. We call on the Azerbaijani population of the areas near the Armenian border to avoid serving as a shield for their armed forces. To stabilize the situation and restrain the Azerbaijani troops, the Armenian armed forces will take retaliatory measures, with Azerbaijani military-political authorities bearing the entire responsibility of the consequences.” OSCE Minsk Group Co-chair James Warlick, in turn, twitted that the Co-chairs are "in touch with officials in Armenia and Azerbaijan about renewed violence urging an end to attacks and reprisals." Related links: The conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan The conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan broke out as result of the ethnic cleansing launched by the Azeri authorities in the final years of the Soviet Union. The Karabakh War was fought from 1991 (when the Nagorno Karabakh Republic was proclaimed) to 1994 (when a ceasefire was sealed by Armenia, NKR and Azerbaijan). Most of Nagorno Karabakh and a security zone consisting of 7 regions are now under control of NKR defense army. Armenia and Azerbaijan are holding peace talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group up till now. Top stories The Cabinet of Ministers decided on Thursday, November 9 to allocated AMD 120 million to arrange the gathering. Michael Roth believes sanctions must be put on the table after Baku‘s ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Yerevan City Council has elected Tigran Avniyan from the ruling Civil Contract as the mayor of the Armenian capital. The Armenian Parliament on Tuesday, October 3 voted to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Partner news | Russia clarifying reports on Baku’s alleged arms supply to Ukraine Russia says is carefully working to verify reports about alleged arms supplies from Azerbaijan to Ukraine Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |