Karabakh: 7 Azeri soldiers killed at contact line in ceasefire violation attempt

March 6, 2015 By administrator

Over 80 instances of ceasefire violation by Azerbaijani troops were reported at the line of contact with the Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) armed forces on the night of March 6.

Azerbaijan fired 4500 shots from various caliber weapons, including type 60- and 80-mm grenade launchers, Istigal sniper rifles, machine guns, towards the Artsakh positions, the NKR defense army reports. The Azeri Armed Forces used a ZSU-23-2 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun in the northern Shahmyan sector. report PanARMENIAN.Net

The Karabakh frontline units took steps to suppress the Azeri activity, disabling 3 rival soldiers and the ZSU-23-2 anti-aircraft gun.

In the same period, Karabakh defence army units were performing preventive operations in the north-eastern section of the line of contact. According to verified data, four servicemen of an Azeri special-purpose unit who entered the operating zone were exterminated, with no losses on Armenian side reported.

Azeri soldier who filmed Armenian copter downing punished

December 6, 2014 By administrator

The soldier who filmed the downing of the Armenian helicopter by the Azeri armed forces on November 2 has been punished, Azeri media report.

The statement came from the Azeri Defense Ministry spokesman Vagif Dergahly in response to a comment by MP Agil Abbas.

At a December 5 information security meeting hosting government and media representatives, Abbas asked whether the soldier who posted the footage on Armenian helicopter downing online, was punished.

According to Dergahly, the soldier was immediately identified: “serious measures were taken in this regard. Further details cannot be disclosed in view of the classified nature of the information.”

Mi-24 helicopter belonging to the Nagorno Karabakh army was shot during a training flight as result of ceasefire violation by the Azerbaijani armed forces on Nov 12, at about 1pm local time. The attack took place not far from the line of contact.

The NKR State Commission on prisoners of war, hostages and the missing persons appealed to the International Committee of Red Cross mission in the NKR with regards to the fate of the crewmembers, one of whom could possibly survive the crash. However, Azerbaijan continued to keep the site under fire.

As a result of a special operation on Nov 21 night, NKR armed forces retrieved the body of one crew member, the remains of two pilots and some helicopter wreckage.

News.az. Soldiers who filmed downing of Armenian helicopter punished

Artsakh rules out exchange of Azeri saboteurs for pilots’ bodies: official

November 21, 2014 By administrator

Stepanakert has no intention to exchange the Azerbaijani saboteurs for the bodies of pilots of Nagorno Karabakh’s helicopter downed by Azeri armed forces during a training flight on Nov 12.

Artsakh President’s spokesman David Babayan has ruled out such a possibility, according to RFE/RL.

Commenting on the developments, Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan said the issue should be resolved by the NKR authorities. “These saboteurs have committed a crime. They are standing trial and must be punished. Our diplomatic efforts resulted in a statement issued by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs, who urged Azerbaijan to stop fire and allow access to the remains,” he said.

Shahbaz Guliyev and Dilgam Askerov are undergoing trial in Stepanakert. The two Azeris were caught making an incursion into Armenian territory (Karvachar) in summer 2014. The third one, Hasan Hasanov, was killed, and his body was handed over to Baku earlier in October. The actions of the group left an underage resident of Karvachar and an Armenian serviceman killed, as well as one woman wounded.

A video containing footage of interrogation of Baku-captured Armenian serviceman Hakob Injighulyan was found in Askerov’s video camera, the saboteur unable to explain how the footage was obtained.

Earlier, Baku offered to exchange the saboteurs for then-captive Injighulyan and Karen Petrosyan, a villager, who died in captivity.

Meanwhile, Artsakh defense army reported that the number of ceasefire violations along the line of contact has increased, with 190 violations registered on the night of Nov 21.
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France Hosts Talks Between Armenia and Azerbaijan

October 28, 2014 By administrator

By SYLVIE CORBET

The leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia restarted a dialogue Monday during a three-way meeting in Paris with French president Francois Hollande, in an effort to ease tensions in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region of the southern Caucasus.

Armenian President Serge Sarkisian and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev agreed Monday to exchange information on the persons who disappeared during the six-year separatist war that ended in 1994. The process will be conducted under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross, according to a written statement released by the French presidency.

They also agreed to continue the dialogue at new meeting in September 2015 on the sidelines of the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York.

Nagorno-Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan but it and some surrounding territory have been under the control of Armenian soldiers and local Armenian forces since a 1994 cease-fire. Since then, there have been sporadic clashes, but last summer tensions rose sharply as 19 soldiers were killed in multiple confrontations.

Years of diplomatic efforts under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have made little visible progress in resolving the dispute.

Earlier Monday, Hollande met separately with each leader.

During a one-to-one meeting with Aliyev, the French president evoked the situation of the prominent human right activist Leila Yunus, who is jailed in Azerbaijan. Yunus was arrested with her husband and charged with spying for Armenia last July.

Aliyev “has made commitments” on that matter, said a top French official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak publicly on the matter. He didn’t give details because of the sensitiveness of the issue.

Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents to meet on October 27

October 25, 2014 By administrator

The meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents will take place on Monday in Paris.

According to the French media, the meeting will be held in Elysee Palace. President Francois Hollande will hold separate meetings with Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev. Later the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan will have an opportunity to meet tête-à-tête.

As reported earlier, President Hollande offered to host a meeting during his visits to Yerevan and Baku in May.

Karabakh serviceman dies in Azeri sniper attack

October 2, 2014 By administrator

Karabakh serviceman David Navasardyan, was killed in Azeri sniper attack on Monday, Oct 1.

The soldier received a gunshot wound in the head at the military unit of the Nagorno Karabakh defense army. An investigation is underway to clarify the details of the incident.

Over the past three months, repeated Azeri attacks against Armenia and Karabakh have resulted in over 20 deaths at the line of contact.

Aeroflot plane makes emergency landing in Yerevan due to drunk Azerbaijani man

August 26, 2014 By administrator

The plane of Aeroflot company heading from Dubai to Moscow made an emergency landing in Yerevan because of a drunk Azerbaijani hooligan.

After take-off from Dubai, one of the passengers started speaking loudly, bothering children and insulting other passengers. report news.am

“The plane was full, there were many children and foreigners. A young man, 30-35 years old, started shouting, bothering children,” the eyewitnesses told RIA Novosti.

The passengers helped flight attendants to tie him to the seat. At around 5a.m. the plane made an emergency landing at Zvartnots airport. During a 2.5-hour landing, pilots tried to hand over the man, a citizen of Azerbaijan, to the local police, but Armenian authorities refused to accept him.

The doctors injected sedatives, he fell asleep and was taken to Moscow by the same plane. The man was taken to police department in Moscow.

Azeri losses in one day, are important since the cease-fire 1994

August 3, 2014 By administrator

Azeri losses with 14 soldiers killed in the night of 1 August are the highest in a single day since the signing of the cease-fire May 12, 1994 between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

According Ouzeyir Djafarov an Azerbaijani military expert who does not believe in casualty figures published by Baku always minimize his losses, these losses are important due to the fact that the attacker always gives “many more casualties than the defender.” Azerbaijan some opponents now accuse the Defence Minister Zakir Hasanov thus have pushed his troops unprepared to death. Other Azeri media also evoke shots against Armenian Azerbaijani border villages, some of which would already emptied of their inhabitants. Finally, according to other sources Azeri, Azerbaijani fighter planes flying over regularly along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. But the anti-aircraft units of the Armenian armed argue their side no Azeri unit has flown in this airspace Armenian territories day.

Krikor Amirzayan

Azeri saboteur, Armenian officer killed during shootout at Karabakh border

July 12, 2014 By administrator

July 12, 2014 – 13:39 AMT

An Azeri saboteur was killed during an attempt to cross into Karabakh in the Karvachar area, Defence Minister stated during a military parade to mark the 17th anniversary the 4th army corps formation.

According to Seyran Ohanyan, an Armenian officer and a woman were killed during the shootout.

On July 10, Armenian forces curbed a sabotage attempt as Azeris tried to infiltrate the border in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic’s Karvachar area, the NKR defense army press service reported. As a result of prompt actions, Azeri diversion group was discovered, with several saboteurs arrested, while the others fled the site.

No injuries on Armenian side were reported.

Later, the press service of the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Ministry has unveiled photos of the Azerbaijani saboteur captured on July 10.

“Unwilling to accept reality, Azerbaijani propaganda denies any information that reveals its true face. Since reliability of the photos we had released was disputed, we also present the photos of Guliyev Shahbaz Jalaloglu, a captured member of the subversive group, which we have taken ourselves,” a statement by the NKR Defense Ministry said.

Armenian military serviceman Movses Gasparyan, 20, received a fatal bullet wound in an Azeri sniper attack on July 11.

Gasparyan was fatally wounded at a military base stationed in the south-eastern region of the line of contact between Artsakh and Azerbaijani armed forces.

An investigation is being carried out to find details of the incident, the Karabakh Defense Ministry said.

Source: PanARMENIAN.Net

OSCE Minsk Group readying meeting of Armenian, Azeri leaders

April 5, 2014 By administrator

April 5, 2014 – 12:11 AMT

The OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs Igor Popov, Jacques Faure, James Warlick, and Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk met with Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and his Azeri counterpart Elmar Mammedyarov in Moscow.

The parties focused on preparation for an oncoming meeting of the Armenian and Russian Presidents.

According to the statement issued after the meeting, the mediators urged the Foreign Ministers to reassert their adherence to the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. As the statement noted, the parties accepted the importance of a progress in peace talks, with the co-chairs stressing the significance of taking concrete steps to decrease tensions and promote settlement.

Previous meeting of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs Igor and the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Personal Representative with Nalbandian took place March 11 in Moscow.

The meeting focused on further steps for the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, with the Co-chairs briefing Nalbandian on the results of the Paris meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov.

As Warlick said in his Tweeter post upon completion of the meeting, “talks with FM Nalbandian in Moscow confirm that Armenia seeks a peaceful settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh. Will pursue options for dialogue.”

Mammadyarov met with OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs in Paris, Foreign Ministry spokesman on March 10, Elman Abdullayev said.

The meeting was attended by the OSCE MG Co-chairs and the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Personal Representative. At the meeting, the parties expressed concern over the non-settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

According to Abdullayev, Mammadyarov reaffirmed Azerbaijan’s willingness to sign a comprehensive peace agreement in case Armenian troops are withdrawn from Karabakh-adjacent territories.

In an interview with APA, Russian Co-chair Igor Popov pointed out positive aspects in the conflict settlement talks. However, he said, approximation of positions remains a hard task.

“After a long break, another meeting of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia was held in Vienna on November 19, 2013. They discussed a range of issues on the settlement of Karabakh problem. The two sides decided to accelerate the process of negotiations. The main directions that require special attention were determined.

Ministers of Foreign Affairs were given relevant instructions, consultations were carried out on the basis of the instructions. Elmar Mammadyarov and Edward Nalbandian met twice. The most contentious issues were discussed in details at these meetings. The negotiations show that there are positive aspects. However, it is not so easy to bring closer the positions of the parties.

Difficulties in the negotiation process correspond to the complexity of the conflict. The parties intend to move forward. We are currently conducting consultations with our French and American colleagues, ministers separately.

We met with Nalbandian on February 22. We plan to meet Mammadyarov in the near future. If we achieve options that will satisfy the parties, joint meetings will be accessible, first at the ministerial level, and then the issue of summit will be considered, as agreed by the presidents in Vienna. We will continue our consultations in the region,” Popov said.

Photo: James Warlick’s Twitter Page