Azerbaijani MoD: soldiers in Karabakh were killed by Armenian militaries

On April 29, a soldier, an Armenian citizen, killed two soldiers, who were born in the Martuni District of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), from his submachine gun, says the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Azerbaijan in its statement. In its turn, the Armenian MoD accused Azerbaijan of killing the soldiers in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on April 28, Vazgen Bakhshyan, a conscript of the Defence Army of the NKR was killed; and on April 29 two other soldiers were killed and one was injured. According to the Armenian party, the sniper fire was delivered from the Azerbaijani positions.

"As everyone knows, there is hostility between Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia. The long-existing hostility has told on the army. On many occasions skirmishes between local Armenians and newcomers burst out from time to time in the military units located in Nagorno-Karabakh," said Lieutenant-Colonel Eldar Sabiroglu, head of the press service of the MoD of Azerbaijan.

"According to received information, the incident occurred on April 29 for this very reason," says the statement of the representative of the Azeri MoD posted on the website "Aze.az".

"On both sides of the contact line there are militaries; and this suggests that the conflict is not frozen; every minute there is a threat of using weapons. Besides, recently the Armenian party has killed a 9-year-old Azerbaijani boy, although the boy was not a military. That is, Armenians shoot at Azerbaijani settlements, at children, and this is a fact," said Elman Abdullaev, first secretary of the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Azerbaijan.

"Armenia must withdraw its troops from the occupied Azerbaijani territories; this is the only way to prevent further escalation of the conflict and save lives. Only in this case we can achieve stable and lasting peace in the Caucasus," Elman Abdullaev said in his statement published on the website "Day.Az".

Let us remind you that the Armenian party does not recognize the fact of the killing of the Azeri boy by an Armenian sniper. "Until the guilt is proved, it is impossible to talk about the responsibility of any party," said Vagram Atanesyan, Chairman of the Standing Commission of the National Assembly of the NKR for Foreign Relations.

"Azerbaijan demonstrates that it can ignore the calls of various international organizations and countries urging it to strengthen the ceasefire regime, withdraw snipers, build-up trust and start peaceful resolution of the conflict. This behaviour deserves the harshest criticism of the international community," runs in its turn the statement of the Armenian MFA.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Stefan Fule, the EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, who is in his visit to Armenia, has expressed his concern about violations of the ceasefire. "Peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict has no alternative," said Stefan Fule.