All news

Armenian foreign ministry sees no alternative to verification mechanisms in Karabakh

"Azerbaijan persistently avoids creating a system of this kind," Armenia said

YEREVAN, October 28. /TASS/. The Foreign Ministry of Armenia sees no alternative to launching international verification mechanisms in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Today, the Armenian Defense Ministry says that Azerbaijan’s report about the missile attack on Azerbaijan’s Barda district from the territory of Armenia is absolutely false: not a single missile was ever launched in the above-mentioned direction by the Armenian armed forces or by the defense troops of Artsakh [the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic]," the ministry said.

"This is a yet another cheap provocation by the Azerbaijani side, which once again proves a simple fact that there is no alternative to launching international verification mechanisms. Interestingly, Azerbaijan persistently avoids creating a system of this kind," it 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. Fighting continues in the region despite the previous ceasefire agreements.

On Sunday evening, Azerbaijan and Armenia, with the United States’ mediation, agreed another humanitarian ceasefire in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone that entered into force from 07:00 Moscow time on October 26.

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.