Azernews.Az

By Ayya Lmahamad

President Ilham Aliyev has slammed Armenia’s deadly provocation on the border yesterday, saying that Azerbaijan’s military post was hit by artillery fire from the Armenian side without any reason.

Chairing the Security Council Session on July 13, the president said that Armenian forces were unable to make any advances on the Azerbaijani territories in yesterday’s attack, adding that the situation still remains tense in the area.

“Armenia staged another military provocation on the direction of Tovuz region of the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border yesterday afternoon. This is not the first military provocation staged by Armenia on the state border. Several of our servicemen were killed as a result of another provocation yesterday afternoon. Artillery fire was opened at our military post, and as a result of this insidious act, our servicemen were killed and wounded,” the president said.

Aliyev stressed that Azerbaijan gave adequate response to the Armenian provocation and avenged the death of its soldiers. “All the attempts of the Armenian side failed, Azerbaijan protected its state border and Armenian soldiers could not cross even an inch into Azerbaijani territory,” Aliyev said.

“Such events occur because of the hypocritical and dishonest activities of the Armenian leadership. On the one hand, it [Yerevan] appeals to the international community and asks for help in strengthening the ceasefire on the Armenian-Azerbaijani contact line. On the other hand, by committing military provocations it wants to invade the territory of Azerbaijan, seize our positions, fire on the civilian population and our villages.

This ugly and insidious policy will lead Armenia to the abyss. All the responsibility falls on the leadership of Armenia. Azerbaijan will continue to protect its territorial integrity and borders. The crushing blows inflicted on the enemy yesterday afternoon and this night showed this once again. Our fallen servicemen have been avenged, their blood has not and will not remain on the ground,” the president stated.

He stressed that relevant appeals have been sent to international organizations, and as soon as the operational situation permits, Azerbaijan will invite foreign military representatives operating in Azerbaijan to the area so that they can see the situation with their own eyes

“Let them see who committed this military provocation, what happened as a result of this military provocation and who is responsible for the escalation of the situation. Ours is a cause of justice and Azerbaijan will not take a step back from its principled position,” president said.

Likewise, Aliyev stressed that Armenia is very concerned about Azerbaijan’s recent international successes. “In particular, our successful activities within international organizations, recent statements by all leading international organizations on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the decisions made, the support for the territorial integrity of our country have, of course, dealt a serious blow to Armenia's position on the conflict. At the same time, the specific facts and convincing arguments we regularly communicate from high-profile podiums on the history of the conflict and the history of the region have undermined their propaganda,” the president said.

“The whole world knows that Nagorno-Karabakh is historically the land of Azerbaijan. There are enough documents confirming this, and we are now sharing these documents with the wider international community. At the same time, the whole world recognizes Nagorno-Karabakh as an integral part of Azerbaijan. There are many international documents and statements confirming this. In particular, the recent so-called “elections” in the self-styled ‘Nagorno-Karabakh republic’ were not only not recognized by any country, but were also condemned by all leading international organizations, neighboring countries and countries involved in this issue. Thus, support for the territorial integrity of our country was once again expressed and it was once again made clear that Nagorno-Karabakh is an integral part of Azerbaijan,” Aliyev went on saying.

The president highlighted that the current chaos in Armenia and the fact that events are reaching a critical point in the country have prompted Yerevan commit these heinous acts.

“It is no secret that Armenia has long been trying to form an opinion on the conflict, especially on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, that it is Azerbaijan that attacks the territory of Armenia. However, this is a lie. All the attacks are committed by Armenia, and this is well documented, there are video and photo documents. Azerbaijan simply responds adequately to all provocation,” Aliyev said.

Armenia is using all opportunities and, at the same time, fabricating information and doing its best to draw attention to the state border. Yesterday's military provocation is another manifestation of this ugly policy, the president went on saying.

Armenia is losing almost all its support in the international arena. The internal situation is quite tense. Everyone understands now that the promised 'prosperity' was just a fantasy, a lie. Of course, the information released by the Armenian authorities about yesterday's incident is another sign of a lie. In their report, they want to shift the responsibility towards Azerbaijan. However, there are no grounds for that, and I want to say again – all independent experts can confirm this – our military post was hit by artillery fire without any reason. As a result, our servicemen died. They are only strong enough to fire on the civilian population or to suddenly open fire on our military post. They did so and once again revealed their ugly and insidious nature,” Aliyev said.

We will use every opportunity to defend ourselves and show the enemy its place again, he concluded.

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