YEREVAN (Armenpress)—“We strongly condemn the provocative actions of recent days on the Line of Contact between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan and on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which resulted in the loss of many lives and sharply raised tensions,” Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said in comments to Armenpress.

 

“We express our deepest condolences to the families and relatives of the victims of the Azerbaijani attacks,” he added.

“Baku continues to grossly violate the ceasefire agreements from May, 1994, and February, 1995, ignores the calls of the Heads of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries to refrain from provocative actions that escalate tensions, and ignores appeals from the international community that the conflict cannot be resolved through violence, but only through negotiations, stability, and peace. The recurrent adventurism of Baku aims to undermine the negotiation process,” Nalbandian said.

“Being the initiator and instigator of the provocations, Azerbaijan is trying to put their responsibility on the other sides. However, it is obvious that by rejecting proposals by the international community on the establishment of a mechanism for investigation of incidents, Azerbaijan is assuming the whole responsibility for the ceasefire violations,” he added.

According to the Foreign Minister, “It is high time for the international community to restore sobriety to the Azerbaijani leadership, which has lost sense of reality and is going against the value-system of the international community.”

“Together with the Co-Chair countries Armenia will take the necessary steps for halting the provocative acts, for the stabilisation of the situation, and for continuation of the negotiation process aimed at the settlement of the conflict exclusively through peaceful means,” Nalbandian said.