Mammadyarov: Status quo unacceptable and inconsistent

Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov  has met with his Armenian counterpart Edward Nalbandyan on sidelines pf the 70th session of the UN General Assembly, with the participation of the OSCEMinsk Group co-chairs, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry told APA. 

According to the source, Elmar Mammadyarov reiterated Azerbaijan's position on the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, stressing that "the status quo which is based on the occupation of Azerbaijani territories is unacceptable and inconsistent." He said Azerbaijan will never accept "the occupation of its territories." The minister added "Armenia seeks to damage the negotiations by trying a variety of provocative acts and escalating the situation along the contact line of troops and the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, saying Armenia actually intends to continue the aggression and occupation."

"Armenia prevents contact between Nagorno-Karabakh's Azerbaijani and Armenian communities who would effectively contribute to trust building, stressing that Armenian troops must withdraw from the occupied lands for the settlement of the conflict. He noted that Azerbaijan is taking part in the negotiations to solve the conflict.  Nonetheless, if the negotiations do not result in the liberation of the [occupied] territories, Azerbaijan will take all necessary actions to ensure its territorial integrity, sovereignty, and border inviolability. As an aggressive and occupying state, Armenia will bear full responsibility for any step to be taken," said Elmar Mammadyarov.

Meantime, the Foreign Ministry of Armenia reported that Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandian, who is in New York on a working visit, held second meeting with the Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.

Edward Nalbandian condemned and characterised as unacceptable the gross violations of the ceasefire by with the heavy artillery, which claimed human lives. He said "to divert attention from the outrageous human rights situation in Azerbaijan and the growing criticism of the international community towards this, Baku escalates the situation on the Line of Contact with Nagorno-Karabakh and the border with Armenia with considerable unforeseen negative consequences. With this provocations Baku demonstrates its disregard both to the human life and to its own commitments".  Then upon the proposal of the Co-Chairs and in their presence a meeting took place with the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov.

Referring to the Co-chairs September 25th statement, Minister Nalbandian said: "It is Azerbaijan that continuously rejects the proposals on confidence building measures and the initiatives aimed at the stabilisation of the situation and therefore, it is obvious to whom the messages of the statement are addressed. But it leads to an impression that Baku deliberately doesn't pay attention to what the international community calls upon through the mediator states.

Minister Nalbandian attached importance to the reaffirmation by the Co-chairs of the proposal on the creation of an investigative mechanism on the ceasefire violations to which Armenia and Nagorno- Karabakh have expressed their agreement on numerous occasions. It would allow to determine with more certainty the side responsible for the ceasefire violations and incidents. "Azerbaijan refuses this, because it wants to have its hands free, and without scrutiny of international scrutiny to continue its provocations on the Line of Contact and borders".

The Minister stated that "Baku refuses not only the initiatives of the Co-chairs on confidence building measures and rejects the proposals of the mediators on the conflict resolution, which have been made public in five statements of the Heads of the Minsk Group Co-chair countries, but also casts aside any reference to them, which once again was vividly demonstrated during the EU eastern Partnership summit in Riga".

The Co-chairs expressed their deep concern about the rise of tension of the situation and stressed that the further escalation is unacceptable.

Defense Ministry of Armenia has made a statement saying that to curb the adversary, the Armenian Armed Forces will apply equivalent striking measures. 

To recall, Azerbaijani armed forces used heavy artillery on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in the area of Tavush region on September 24. The adversary retreated after the Armenian forces retaliated. By preliminary data, Azerbaijan lost 5 people, with another 5 were wounded. Two combat positions of the Azerbaijani armed forces were destroyed.

On September 25, the Azerbaijani armed forces attacked NKR positions from Turkish TR-107 artillery rockets and 122mm howitzers D-30 killing 4 soldiers of the NKR Defense Army. There are wounded too.  According to the operational data of the NKR defense army, Azerbaijan Armed Forces shelled Kharabakh positions from infantry and artillery weapons. The Adversary used 60mm (16 salvo fires), 82mm (28 salvo fires) and 120mm (2 salvo fires) mortars, RPG-7 grenade launchers (1 salvo fire) and AGS-17 (30 salvo fires). Azerbaijani side fired one thousand shots at the Armenian positions. The adversary also used TR-107 Rocket-Launcher of Turkish production (12 salvo fires). For the first time the Adversary used 122mm howitzer D-30 (30 salvo fires).