Azernews.Az

By Vafa Ismayilova

Attempts to violate Azerbaijan's state border are unacceptable, the press service of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said on May 27.

The ministry made the statement in reaction to a sabotage act committed by a group of Armenian saboteurs in the direction of Kalbajar region on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border in the early hours of May 27.

“Attempts to violate Azerbaijan's borders are unacceptable. Armenia must refrain from actions aimed at increasing tensions on the border between the two countries and respect the neighboring state’s border,” the statement said.

Azerbaijan supports the de-escalation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani state border tensions through talks and backs the international community’s calls for the delimitation and demarcation of the two countries' borders, the ministry said.

It added that Armenia has been pursuing a policy of deliberately increasing tensions in the borderline between the two countries for a while. The ministry assessed as acts of terrorism and sabotage the infiltration of the Armenian armed forces’ reconnaissance group into Azerbaijan and the attempts to mine the areas they had penetrated.

“While Azerbaijan has suffered from landmines planted by Armenia for many years, sabotage and further attempts to mine passages carried out by the saboteur group of Armenia on the territory of Azerbaijan could pose a serious threat to the lives of Azerbaijani servicemen and civilians in the future,” the statement said.

Earlier, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Leyla Abdullayeva described the incident on her official Twitter account as Armenia's violation of the November 2020 trilateral peace deal signed by Baku, Moscow, and Yerevan.

"The Azerbaijani Defence Ministry reports on provocation by the armed forces of Armenia near the borderline in Kalbajar direction. A group of Armenian saboteurs tried to enter the territories of Azerbaijan. It is yet another provocative act and violation of trilateral statement by Armenia," she tweeted on May 27.

Azerbaijan and Armenia resumed the war after that latter started firing at Azerbaijani civilians and military positions starting September 27, 2020. The war ended on November 10 with the signing of a trilateral peace deal by the Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian leaders.

The peace agreement stipulated the return of Azerbaijan's Armenian-occupied Kalbajar, Aghdam and Lachin regions. Before the signing of the deal, the Azerbaijani Army had liberated around 300 villages, settlements, city centres, and historic Shusha city. The signed agreement obliged Armenia to withdraw its troops from the Azerbaijani lands that it has occupied since the early 1990s.

The November peace deal also stipulates the unblocking of transport routes in the region that has been closed due to three decades of deadly conflict.

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