Armenian Army Soldier Killed By Azerbaijani Fire

YEREVAN—A private of the Armenian Armed Forces, Chaplin Armeni Margaryan, born in 1998, was killed on Tuesday as a result of Azerbaijani gun fire, when on duty at one of the military units located in the northeastern direction of Armenia, reported Armenia’s defense ministry.

The Army’s Investigative Committee probe revealed that Margaryan, a native of Armavir village, sustained the fatal gunshot wound while doing engineering work.

Margaryan was immediately taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead at 9 p.m. local time.

The Investigative Committee said that a preliminary probe is underway, with all the necessary measures taken to ensure a comprehensive, objective and full investigation.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry was quick to react, calling the latest killing of an Armenia soldier a “provocation.”

“Ahead of a meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents, (Azeri leader) Ilham Aliyev continues provocations,” the foreign ministry spokesman Tigran Balayan said in a tweet.

Balayan was referencing a much-discussed meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents Serzh Sarkisian and Ilham Aliyev, which is anticipated to take place on the sidelines of a Commonwealth of Independent States summit currently underway in the Russian resort city of Sochi.

Sarkisian’s spokesperson, Vladimir Hakobyan, told reporters on Wednesday that it has long been known to everyone that the Azerbaijani authorities resort to provocations before high-level meetings “in an attempt to contaminate the political environment.”