Azerbaijan warns Armenia to abide by cease-fire

BAKU/ANKARA

The Azerbaijani president said on Friday that he hopes Armenia will abide by Nov. 10 cease-fire deal to prevent further escalation.

"I hope that Armenia will abide by the Nov. 10 cease-fire deal. Otherwise, Armenia will be in a worse situation. There is no other choice. They must accept the new realities," Ilham Aliyev said.

Attending a virtual news conference, Ilham Aliyev described the ongoing events in Armenia as the "internal affairs" of the country.

“Today, Armenia is in such a difficult situation that this process shakes the foundation of the state. Responsible for this is the previous and current administration of Armenia. The Kocharyan-Sargsyan junta turned the country into this,” he said.

Armenia's current political crisis is a result of its occupying policies, Aliyev stressed.

“Our policy was to economically shake and isolate Armenia. I was telling them to put an end to the occupation of our lands. If they had listened to us timely, they would not have been in such a terrible situation now,” Aliyev said.

Relations between the former Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, internationally recognized as 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.

Despite the Nov. 10 deal ending the conflict, the Armenian army several times violated the agreement and martyred several Azerbaijani soldiers and a civilian, as well as wounded few people, according to the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry.

* Writing by Seda Sevencan.