Flare-up in tensions as Armenian troops kill Azerbaijani soldier

Armenian armed forces located in the village of Doveh of Armenia’s Noyemberyan district opened fire at the positions of Azerbaijani armed forces located in the village of Kemerli of Gazakh district.

Speaking to reporters on July 24, the top official said the visit of the OSCE MG co-chairs to the region is related to that.

Mammadov further said the co-chairs visited the region and took an initiative to organize meetings between foreign ministers and presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia.

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said a serviceman identified as Eldar Fataliyev has been killed at the line of contact with the Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) Republic.

Friday’s skirmish violating the brittle truce comes a day after the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said that the presidents of the two feuding nations were ready to “meet each other later this year” in an effort to end years of hostility.

Mammadov further stressed that Azerbaijan waits from the West and European countries to demonstrate its position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within the specific legal framework. They also expressed concern at rising tensions along the “line of contact” around Karabakh and the Armenian-Azerbaijani border following a “period of relative stability” observed there earlier this year. “However, we are concerned about the recent rise in tensions, and we urged the Presidents to avoid a deadly escalation of violence and take all measures to adhere strictly to the ceasefire”, the statement said.

Clashes between the two started in 1988 with the invasion of the Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-Karabakh by Armenia, and later evolved into a full-fledged war in 1992.

Yerevan-backed ethnic Armenian separatists seized control of Karabakh and several other regions of Azerbaijan during the conflict that left some 30,000 dead.

Despite years of negotiations, the two countries have not signed a final peace deal to cement the 1994 ceasefire.