Baku, Azerbaijan, July 6

Trend:

Armenia’s deliberate targeting of Azerbaijani civilians is a despicable act, Bob Blackman, a British MP, chairman of the Azerbaijan All-Party Parliamentary Group, said.

He was commenting on the recent developments on the contact line between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops.

On July 4 at about 20:40 (GMT+4 hours), the Armenian armed forces, using 82-mm and 120-mm mortars and grenade launchers, shelled the Alkhanly village of Azerbaijan’s Fuzuli district.

As a result of this provocation, the residents of the village Sahiba Allahverdiyeva, 50, and Zahra Guliyeva, 2, were killed. Salminaz Guliyeva, 52, who got wounded, was taken to the hospital and was operated on.

Armenian armed forces should cease firing across the contact line and at least give [Nagorno-Karabakh] peace talks a chance of success, the British MP added.

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.