BAKU, October 1. /TASS/. The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan debunked the Armenian reports that an Azerbaijani helicopter and a plane were downed.
"Armenian media reports alleging that an Azerbaijani air force plane and a helicopter - which purportedly crashed on Iranian territory - are false and groundless," said Vagif Dargahli, spokesman for Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry.
"We state that all aviation hardware of the Azerbaijani Air Force is fully in operation and on duty," the spokesman said.
Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The area experienced flare-ups of violence in the summer of 2014, in April 2016 and this past July. Azerbaijan and Armenia have imposed martial law and launched mobilization efforts. Both parties to the conflict have reported casualties, among them civilians.
The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before the Soviet Union break-up, but primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1992-1994, tensions boiled over and exploded into large-scale military action for control over the enclave and seven adjacent territories after Azerbaijan lost control of them. Talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement have been ongoing since 1992 under the OSCE Minsk Group, led by its three co-chairs - Russia, France and the United States.