Baku, Azerbaijan, July 18

Trend:

Units of the Armenian armed forces violated the cease-fire in different directions of the front 17 times within 24 hours, using large-caliber machine guns and sniper rifles, Trend reports referring to the press service of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense.

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 Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.