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5 January 2017

By Seba Aghayeva – Trend

Armenia continues to grossly violate the requirements of international humanitarian law, in particular, the Geneva Convention, Hikmat Hajiyev, spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, told Trend January 5.

Hajiyev added that Armenia has not yet returned the body of Azerbaijani serviceman Chingiz Gurbanov, killed as a result of an Armenian provocation.

A reconnaissance group of the Armenian Armed Forces tried to violate the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border on Dec. 29 morning. The Armenian group found itself in the ambush of the Azerbaijani army while violating the borders and suffered heavy losses. Chingiz Gurbanov, a serviceman of Azerbaijani Armed Forces, went missing during the fight.

“In this regard, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, together with other relevant structures of the country, has sent a corresponding appeal to international organizations,” Hajiyev added.

“Armenia disregards the international organizations’ appeals to return the body of the Azerbaijani serviceman, and thus continues to demonstrate its inhuman nature,” he added.

“This provocation has once again showed that the current political regime in Yerevan is a threat to security in the region,” he said. “The main objective of that regime is to prevent the peaceful settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.”

“Armenia stands behind the provocations on the Azerbaijan-Armenia border,” Hajiyev said.

He added that Armenia, by trying to involve the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in the incident, is posing a serious threat to regional peace and security and is causing serious damage to the peace efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group.

“Despite the appeals made by a number of judicious individuals in the Armenian social, political and diaspora circles, who stand for a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the military and political leadership in Yerevan is trying by any means to slow down the negotiation process,” he added.

“The recent statements made by Armenian Foreign Ministry and other structures in the country testify that Armenia continues its aggressive policy in the region,” he said. “The essence of this policy is to continue the aggression against Azerbaijan and preserve the status quo.”

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.