The Republic of Armenia’s Defense Ministry.
Armenia’s Defense Ministry has issued a serious warning to Azerbaijan following the death of four Armenian servicemen in Nagorno Karabakh on September 25.
Azerbaijani military forces bombarded one of the frontier units of the Karabakh Defense Army stationed along the northeastern portion of the Karabakh-Azerbaijan Line of Contact. According to the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Ministry, it was the first time since the 1994 Russian-brokered ceasefire that Azerbaijan had used 122 mm artillery to strike Armenian positions.
Armenia’s Defense Ministry is warning that the latest military actions by Azerbaijan is transitioning the conflict to full-scale military operations. It is calling on the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and international organizations that these recent actions are creating dangerous dynamics on the front line.
“The restrained behavior on the part of the Republic of Armenia’s Armed Forces and the reactions of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and other international organizations, implemented with the objective of aiding the political process of the settlement of the conflict have had no influence on the opponent with regards to the issue of maintaining the ceasefire regime,” the statement read. “Instead, these actions provide the enemy with the illusion of supremacy, encouraging adventurism in an atmosphere of impunity.”
The Defense Ministry of Armenia says that the continuous escalation of tensions on the front line, which have resulted in casualties as well as anxiety are no longer acceptable.
“Thus, in order to suppress the opponent and prevent it from carrying out its measures, and thereby aiding the negotiation process, the Republic of Armenia’s Armed forces will hereafter utilize measures equivalent to its artillery and rocket strikes, keeping the subdivisions of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, its maneuvers, military equipment and human resources permanently under fire,” the statement concludes.
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On the evening of September 24, as a result of heavy shelling by the Azerbaijani side, one Armenian civilian was killed in the village of Paravakar and two in the village of Berdavan in the Tavush region; another two civilians were injured.
Armenia’s Defense Ministry issued a statement at the time about the tense situation saying that Armenian military forces will take “necessary measures to stabilize the situation, the consequences of which will be on the shoulders of Azerbaijani leadership.
On the evening of September 24, Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan met with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs in New York City. Nalbandyan met a second time with the Co-Chairs and later with his counterpart, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov on September 25.
