Armenia breaches relocation rules for Azerbaijani soldier bodies [UPDATE]

By Azernews

Armenia has violated the rules for relocating bodies of Azerbaijani soldiers from the battlefield, achieved with participation of international mediators, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry reported on February 27.

“Through the mediation of the OSCE and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) representatives, it was planned to take appropriate measures at 12:00 on February 26 in order to remove bodies of Azerbaijani servicemen Abdullayev Agshin Ismayil oglu, Nazarov Shahlar Yashar oglu, Hashimli Tural Abdul oglu, Gadimov Zulfu Rahim oglu and Jafarov Zakir Nazim oglu, who were killed over the night from February 24 to 25 while preventing the large-scale provocations committed by Armenian Armed Forces along the front line”, the Defense Ministry said.

However, when the removal process was started, Armenia, in violation of conditions agreed in advance in the presence of international mediators, deliberately put forward new demands to interfere in the operation.

“Furthermore, the enemy fired from weapons and artillery systems of various calibers on Azerbaijani positions in several directions of the frontline and attempted to carry out a diversion in a planned way in several directions”, said the Ministry.

Armenian army attempted to infiltrate through the Azerbaijani positions along the line of contact on the night from February 24 to February 25.

The Armenian side attempted to seize favorable positions on the Khojavand-Fuzuli part of the frontline, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry reported earlier.  

“The Armenian side’s large-scale provocation attempt was timely detected and resolutely prevented. Azerbaijani military units courageously prevented the attacks and the Armenian side was forced to retreat. Azerbaijan has casualties as a result of the battles.”

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.