Azerbaijan says Armenian army violated cease-fire

BAKU, Azerbaijan

The Armenian army violated the cease-fire along the border with Azerbaijan in the early hours of Tuesday morning, authorities said.

According to a statement by the State Border Service of Azerbaijan, its border and fighting posts came under fire of the Armenian army from the occupied Ashagi Askipara village of Azerbaijan’s Gazakh region. Armenian troops used machine guns for firing 20 times.

Relations between the former Soviet republics had been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, internationally recognized as an Azerbaijani territory, and seven adjacent regions.

When new clashes erupted on Sept. 27, 2020, the Armenian army launched attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces and violated several humanitarian cease-fire agreements.

During the 44-day conflict, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and nearly 300 settlements and villages from the nearly three-decade-long occupation.

In November, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a Russian-brokered peace deal to end fighting.

Despite the cease-fire deal, the Armenian army several times violated the agreement and martyred several Azerbaijani soldiers and a civilian, according to the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry.

On Saturday, Turkish and Russian troops started to monitor the truce in Upper Karabakh. It came after the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding following the truce to set up a joint center on Azerbaijani territories liberated from Armenia’s occupation to monitor the cease-fire.

*Writing by Ahmet Gencturk in Ankara