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Armenia attempted to escalate the tension to manipulate the international community's attention: Azerbaijani FM

25 September 2022 01:56 (UTC +04:00)

“Armenia clearly attempted a further escalation to manipulate the attention of international community,” said Jeyhun Bayramov, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister, during his speech at the general discussions of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, APA reports.

J. Bayramov further said: "Armenia has not fully withdrawn its armed forces from Azerbaijani territories as stipulated by November 10 Trilateral statement, and continues a variety of military activities within the territories of Azerbaijan, including planting landmines. Recently, massive number of anti-personnel mines produced in Armenia in 2021, have been found in the Lachin district of Azerbaijan.

Following a series of political and military provocations, especially after the fourth Brussels meeting between the leaders of the two countries, Armenia resorted to another large-scale military provocation along the undelimited state border line in the night from 12 to 13 September attempting to plant mines on the roads between the military positions of Azerbaijan, taking advantage of night time and complex terrain.

Further on, Armenia, using weapons of different caliber, opened fire on Azerbaijani positions, which caused losses among the military personnel of Azerbaijan, and inflicted significant damage upon its military infrastructure.

Azerbaijan took adequate measures to neutralize threat against its sovereignty and territorial integrity, to ensure safety of its personnel, as well as civilian personnel involved in reconstruction works in the area. The armed forces of Azerbaijan demonstrated utmost restraint and professionalism, and limited to targeting exclusively fire points of Armenia with high precision weapons to suppress its attacks on the positions of Azerbaijan.

Armenia clearly attempted a further escalation to manipulate the attention of international community. Thus, Armenia disregarded the ceasefire agreed on September 13 and continued shelling the territory of Azerbaijan, including with high-caliber weapons and artillery. As a result, Azerbaijan suffered further losses and casualties, included 80 servicemen killed, 282 servicemen and 2 civilians wounded.

Contrary to such reckless actions of Armenia, Azerbaijan exercised utmost restraint, took several steps, including through contacts with relevant international partners, and demonstrated good faith and genuine will to restore the ceasefire."