Armenian attacks on Azerbaijan’s civilians of systematic nature

Baku, Azerbaijan, June 5 By Elena Kosolapova – Trend: The Armenian armed forces’ attacks on Azerbaijani civilians are of systematic nature, Vice-Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament Bahar Muradova said July 5 at an OSCE Parliamentary Assembly meeting in Minsk. “The responsibility for yesterday's attack rests with the military-political leadership of Armenia. It is scary to realize that while we are discussing the issue of building mutual trust here, there is bloodshed in our country, on our land,” she said. On the Azerbaijani side, solely civilians live in the villages on the contact line between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops but on the Armenian side, armed forces, formed mainly of the country’s recruits, are stationed, according to Muradova. She noted that MPs have to find ways to peaceful dialogue and make a contribution to put an end to the bloodshed. On July 4 at about 20:40 (GMT+4 hours), the Armenian armed forces again violated ceasefire and, using 82-mm and 120-mm mortars and grenade launchers, shelled Azerbaijani positions and territories where the civilian population lives, namely the Alkhanli village of the country’s Fuzuli district, thereby grossly violating the requirements of international law, the Azerbaijani defense ministry said earlier. As a result of this provocation, the residents of the village Sakhiba Guliyeva, 50, and Zakhra Guliyeva, 2, were killed. Servinaz Guliyeva, 52, who got wounded, was taken to the hospital and was operated on. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.