Azernews.Az

By Aynur Karimova

Armenia, keeping 20 percent Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territories under the occupation for over 20 years, has once again resorted to provocations on the frontline with an aim to tarnish Azerbaijan's fair and reliable image in the world.

The oligarch and corrupted Sargsyan regime in Yerevan, which not only fails to provide economic growth in the country, but also has no chance to recover the already bankrupt budget, attempts to divert the population's attention from the domestic by launching hostilities along the line of contact, and targeting civilians living near the occupied territories.

By targeting both the civilians and soldiers, Armenia tries to irritate the Azerbaijani side and achieve a negative image of the country, and thus to zero Azerbaijan's successes achieved on the global arena during the years of independence.

On the night of April 2, all frontier positions of Azerbaijan were exposed to heavy fire from large-caliber weapons, mortars, grenade launchers and guns. Azerbaijani settlements near the frontline were shelled, which resulted in the killing of two civilians and injuring of another 10.

The Azerbaijani armed forces immediately launched counter attacks to prevent the activation of the Armenian military units and to protect civilian population. Six Armenian tanks, 15 gun mounts and reinforced engineering structures have been destroyed and more than 100 Armenian servicemen were wounded and killed during the shootouts.

Twelve servicemen of the Azerbaijani armed forces heroically died, one Mi-24 helicopter was shot down and one tank damaged by a mine.

Despite Azerbaijan's decision on unilateral suspension of the counter-attacks and response measures in the territories occupied by Armenia, the Armenian Armed Forces resumed shelling of Azerbaijani positions along the line of contact on the night of April 4, further deteriorating the situation on the contact line.

Armenia’s provocations and irresponsible decisions prove that Yerevan is doing its best to block all peace initiatives and keep the existing status-quo. The occupant country has always tried to mislead the international community over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and ignored all peace calls. The peace efforts initiated by the OSCE Minsk Group, which mediates a peaceful resolution to the long-lasting conflict, were rejected by Yerevan due to its destructive position in this problem.

The removal of Levon Ter-Petrosyan from power in 1998, shooting of the Armenian Parliament in 1999, aggravation of tensions on the frontline after the historical Paris meeting of the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia in 2014 and other facts show that the Armenian government makes extensive use of military provocations and attacks when it is in a deadlock situation.

This time, the Armenian authorities were angered by Azerbaijan’s success in Washington at the 4th Nuclear Security Summit.

Azerbaijan's diplomatic achievements on the international arena, in particular President Ilham Aliyev's participation in the Summit, his meetings with the U.S. Vice President, Joe Biden and State Secretary John Kerry, and support of the U.S. to Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and sovereignty caused panic in Yerevan.

The Washington Summit showed that the U.S. sees Azerbaijan as a reliable partner in counterterrorism, and in ensuring the energy security of Europe with its Southern Gas Corridor projects. All these achievements of Azerbaijan, a leading country in the South Caucasus region, exasperated Armenia.

Thus, Yerevan has mobilized all its dirty tools to tarnish Azerbaijan and to keep the tense situation on the contact line. However, the occupant country should realize that it cannot keep the status-quo for years and the renewed hostilities is an open message to the international community that it is time to resolve the long-lasting conflict, which started over two decades ago.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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