Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan`s Defense Ministry says five Azerbaijani soldiers were killed Tuesday in shoot-outs with armed men who tried to infiltrate Azerbaijan from neighboring Armenia.

Azerbaijani defense officials described the infiltrators as Armenian saboteurs, and said they tried to break into Azerbaijan`s Gazakh district bordering Armenia.

The statement by Azerbaijan`s Defense Ministry came a day after Armenian authorities made a similar statement saying that three Armenian soldiers were killed and others injured in a shoot-out with a group described as ``Azerbaijani saboteurs``.

Azerbaijan`s Defense Ministry dismissed involvement of Azerbaijani soldiers in a shooting along the Armenian border.

``There are special reasons why the media circulates such false and distracting information,`` spokesman Eldar Sabiroglu said. ``The political stand-off emerging inside Armenia and interest of groups find their way into the military and foment armed clashes.``

Azerbaijan and Armenia waged a brutal war in the early 1990s which claimed some 30,000 lives and displaced about a million Azerbaijanis. About 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory, including Nagorno Karabakh and seven surrounding regions, has been under the occupation of Armenian armed forces since a fragile ceasefire was signed in 1994. Peace talks, brokered by the United States, Russia and France through the OSCE Minsk Group, have been largely fruitless so far.

Calls for easing tension
On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is currently on a tour of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, said in Yerevan that tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno Karabakh, the separatist Armenian-populated territory inside Azerbaijan, could escalate into a much broader conflict.

Clinton called for renewed measures toward a settlement.

``The [Armenian] president and I had a serious discussion on Nagorno Karabakh, including the most recent incidents along the front lines,`` Clinton said in a press conference with Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan. ``While I had just learned of these incidents, I am very concerned about the danger of escalation of tensions and the senseless deaths of young soldiers and innocent civilians. The use of force will not resolve the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, and therefore force must not be used. And we are calling on everyone to renounce force as well as refrain from violence. I assured the president that I would make these points in Baku when I am there the day after tomorrow.``

Clinton noted that as a co-chair of the mediating Minsk Group, the United States is committed to working with all the parties to move the peace process forward.

``I am very committed that there has to be a way forward. And it`s not only the actions of leaders; it must be the actions of citizens as well to try to find a way to enable people of the region to live together in peace and dignity,`` the US secretary of state said.

``And so the United States, along with the Minsk Group, is committed to doing everything we can. And I discussed some specific ideas with the president and the foreign minister today. I made it clear to the president that the United States believes that a peace settlement must be based upon Helsinki principles, the non-use of force or the threat of force, territorial integrity, and the equal rights and self-determination of peoples. And you can`t take one [principle] out. They have to be an integrated whole in order to arrive at a sustainable solution,`` Clinton said.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said while commenting on human casualties along the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops that the deaths have a negative impact on the negotiation process on Nagorno Karabakh.

``Unfortunately, such incidents will not end until the conflict is resolved. We are therefore once again appealing to Armenia and its leaders to adopt the updated Madrid principles so that we could begin working on a comprehensive peace accord,`` Mammadyarov told journalists in Baku on Tuesday.

The Madrid Principles, also known as Basic Principles, are at the core of the ongoing peace talks. The document includes a return of the territories surrounding Nagorno Karabakh to Azerbaijani control; determining the final legal status of Nagorno Karabakh; a corridor linking Armenia to the region; and the right of all internally displaced persons to return home.

Mammadyarov said further that the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers together with the Minsk Group co-chairs will meet in Paris on June 18. He said that at the meeting Azerbaijan will try to explain to the Armenian side that the lingering status quo in the Karabakh conflict is unacceptable.

Mammadyarov said Nagorno Karabakh will also be the subject of negotiations with Secretary Clinton in Baku.

``We always knew that this topic is quite sensitive and the conflict parties and the international mediators should find a way out of the protracted conflict,`` Mammadyarov said.