Beginning late Friday and continuing into early hours on Saturday, Azerbaijani forces fired at several Armenian military positions in the Syunik, Gegharkunik and Tavush provinces, Armenia’s defense ministry reported.
This follows similar incidents of Azerbaijani forces breaching the ceasefire when they fired at positions in Gegharkunik and Tavush Friday evening.
“The intensity of the firing varied across several directions of the border,” the defense ministry said, adding that between 10:25 to 10:50 p.m. local time, Armenians positions near the Sotk village in the Gegharkunik province were targeted. Later, at 11:15 p.m. local time, the shooting continued near the Verin Shorzha region and later around 12:15 a.m. local time on Saturday near the Kut village in the Gegharkunik region. Between 11:15 and 11:20 p.m. local time on Friday Armenian positions near Aravus in the Syunik province were attacked, while simultaneously, from 11:05 to 11:20 p.m. local time Friday positions near the Chinari village in Tavush’s Chinar village were shot at. Later, between 12:15 and 1:20 a.m. Saturday the Movses village area in the Tavush Province came under Azerbaijani fire.
“The units of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia observed significant vehicle movements of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces toward Ishkhanasar between 9 to 11 p.m. [local time],” the defense ministry said in its statement.
Local law enforcement agencies reported damage to civilian homes.
In particular, houses and gravestones were damaged in the village of Movses, while a civilian vehicle came under fire in the village of Karmiraghbyur in Tavush province.
The ministry said that the attacks on Friday and Saturday were aimed to provoke the Armenian soldiers, who “refrained” from taking any action as to not further escalate the situation, blaming the renewed attacks on Azerbaijani disinformation.
Azerbaijan’s defense ministry issued a statement earlier Friday, claiming attacks by Armenian forces against Azerbaijan positions. This accusation was denied by official Yerevan.
“There was no reason for the provocations by the Armed Forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the night of April 5-6. By opening sporadic fire on numerous sections of the border and moving dozens of military vehicles, Azerbaijan has clearly pursued provocative as its goal to incite the units of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia to take countermeasures in order to obtain facts that would “substantiate” the recent Azerbaijani disinformation,” Armenia’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
The statement said that Armenia is not interested in escalating the situation in the region and calls on Azerbaijan to stop actions aimed at such an escalation.’
“We also consider Azerbaijan’s assessments on the creation of defense structures on the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia unjustified since reforms in the army and army infrastructure is the sovereign right of any country,” added the foreign ministry.
“At the same time, we would like to remind that the proposals of the Republic of Armenia for a simultaneous withdrawal of troops from the Armenia-Azerbaijan state border, the creation of mutual arms control mechanisms, the signing of a non-aggression pact and the demilitarization of territories adjacent to the state border remain unanswered,” emphasized the foreign ministry.
“The accusations against Armenia regarding the acquisition of weapons for defense purposes are also not understandable since Azerbaijan continue to acquire many times more weapons than the Republic of Armenia, with Armenia receiving comprehensive information about that,” official Yerevan said in its response.
“We officially reaffirm the commitment of the Republic of Armenia to the peace agenda, as well as our proposal to Azerbaijan to create mechanisms for mutual arms control and demilitarization of territories adjacent to the border between the two countries,” the statement added.
The attacks come a day after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels, where the U.S. and EU pledged proactive and financial support to Armenia.
President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan criticized the Brussels meeting, saying on Friday that the talks were “directed against Azerbaijan.”
“Although high-ranking U.S. and EU officials tried to convince us during telephone conversations initiated by them in recent days that this meeting is not directed against us, we know that it is against Azerbaijan, against cooperation in the South Caucasus,” Aliyev said. “It aims to create dividing lines and isolate Azerbaijan.”
