Fatalities Today in Tavoush: Armenia Says It Will ‘Respond Appropriately’ to

YEREVAN (Public Radio of Armenia)-The Office of the Special Representative of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Chairman-in-Office held a regular monitoring visit to the state border between Armenia and Azerbaijan near Aygepar village in Tavush.

Two of the Armenian civilians, the 41-year-old Sona Revazian and 94-year-old Shushan Asatrian, were killed in Bertavan, a village in the northern Tavush province bordering the Gazakh district in western Azerbaijan. The civilian was hospitalized, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry reported on September 24.

“In order to stabilize the situation in the border area and rein in Azerbaijani forces, the Armenian Armed Forces will resort to adequate actions”, it said.

Armenia’s defence ministry condemned the shelling as an “act of provocation” as the two countries’ foreign ministers are set to meet on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on a date still to be confirmed.

The two countries are in a lengthy standoff because of Nagorno-Karabakh, a region surrounded by Azerbaijan but controlled by majority ethnic Armenians.

“Our neighbour’s military leadership shows complete disdain towards diplomatic efforts aimed at finding a negotiated solution to the (Karabakh) conflict”, Armenia said in a statement.

The conflict left an estimated 30,000 people dead and one million displaced before the two sides agreed to a ceasefire in 1994. Armenian armed units intensively fired at the positions of the Azerbaijani armed forces and border villages from different caliber weapons again.

Armenia, an ally of Russian Federation, says it would not stand by if Nagorno-Karabakh were attacked.