MOSCOW, October 7. /TASS/. The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh must not be allowed to spill over the boundaries of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan’s President Ilkham Aliyev said on Russian television in an interview on Wednesday.
He stressed that the conflict had not yet spread beyond the territory of Armenia.
"Even despite artillery bombardments from the Armenian territory we do not make any strikes against Armenia. Nor do we venture into Armenian territory, although we have the capabilities for this," Aliyev said.
He stressed that Armenia was trying to involve European countries and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) into the Karabakh dispute.
"The Armenian side is trying to internationalize this conflict. We argue that such an attitude is impermissible," he 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.
Baku and Yerevan dispute sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh since February 1988, when the region declared secession from the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist republic. In the armed conflict of 1992-1994 Azerbaijan lost control of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjoining regions.