The Armenian defense ministry informed that it was said to the Iranian side that the Azerbaijani army must relocate combat operations to a safe distance from the border with Iran
YEREVAN, October 16.
/TASS/. The defense army of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh republic reserves
the right to deliver strikes at Azerbaijani troops pulled to the border with
Iran, Levon Aivazyan, chief of the Armenian defense ministry’s defense policy management
and international cooperation directorate, said on Friday at a meeting with
Iranian embassy’s defense attache Bahman Sadeghi.
"Despite the
numerous calls from the Armenian side, the Azerbaijani armed forces continue to
be pulled to and conduct operations along the border with Iran. On behalf of
the Arstakh (the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh republic - TASS) defense army,
Levon Aivazyan states that in case the situation in the above mentioned area
remained the same the defense army reserved the right to deliver strikes at the
Azerbaijani armed forces in this area," the Armenian defense ministry said
after the meeting.
According to the
ministry, it was said to the Iranian side that the Azerbaijani army must
relocate combat operations to a safe distance from the border with Iran.
Renewed clashes
between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles
raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The area experienced
flare-ups of violence in the summer of 2014, in April 2016 and this past July.
Azerbaijan and Armenia have imposed martial law and launched mobilization
efforts. Both parties to the conflict have reported casualties, among them
civilians.
The conflict between
Armenia and Azerbaijan over the highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed
territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before the Soviet Union break-up,
but primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after
the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the
Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1992-1994, tensions boiled over and
exploded into large-scale military action for control over the enclave and
seven adjacent territories after Azerbaijan lost control of them. Talks on the
Nagorno-Karabakh settlement have been ongoing since 1992 under the OSCE Minsk
Group, led by its three co-chairs - Russia, France and the United States.
Source: ITAR-TASS
16-10-2020
