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3 May 2017

By Samir Ali – Trend.Az

Armenia will get an even stronger blow, if it doesn’t draw conclusions from the April battles, Head of Azerbaijan’s State Border Service Colonel General Elchin Guliyev told reporters in Baku May 3. Guliyev noted that Azerbaijan has enough power to liberate its lands from the Armenian occupation.

 “Azerbaijan’s Armed Forces are always ready to liberate their lands from the occupation. However, Azerbaijan supports the peaceful resolution of the conflict. If Armenia deviates from this process, we will liberate our lands through military means,” he said. “If Armenia doesn’t draw conclusions from the April battles, it will get an even stronger blow.”

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.

On the night of Apr. 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from Armenian armed forces. As a result of artillery shelling of Azerbaijan’s settlements, located near the line of contact, six civilians were killed, including two children aged under 16, and 26 people were seriously injured.

During the four days of fighting, Azerbaijani Armed Forces liberated the heights near the Talish village, as well as the Seysulan settlement, which could pose a threat to the safety of the Goranboy district and Naftalan city.

Azerbaijan took over control of the Lele Tepe strategic height, located near the Fuzuli district, which allows controlling a large territory. Also, as a result of the April battles, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces took under control the roads in the Aghdere-Madaghiz direction.

Thirty tanks, up to 15 artillery mounts and fortifications belonging to Armenia were destroyed, 320 Armenian soldiers were killed and more than 500 of the enemy’s servicemen were wounded during the battles.

The military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) upon mutual agreement of the sides.