Armenia pledges retaliation against Azerbaijani aggression

Armenia’s Ministry of Defense promises retaliation against Azerbaijan’s deadly border attacks that claimed three civilians’ lives in Armenian border villages on Thursday.

In a statement issued earlier today, the Ministry also called upon the country’s political-military leadership to avoid a further escalation along Armenia’s eastern border.

“It is notable that the Azerbaijani side normally resorts to provocation in the run-up to talks or meetings around the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, intentionally inciting tension in the border zone. All this demonstrates that the neighboring state’s political-military leadership ignores initiatives aimed to promote a peaceful settlement and repeatedly and artificially destabilizes the situation along the Line of Contact.

“The Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia declares that the current situation stems from the Azerbaijani political-military leadership’s tactics which, in essence, runs counter to the logic behind the conflict settlement talks and the principles of international humanitarian law.

“The Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia once again calls upon the Azerbaijani side to refrain from steps amounting to escalation and take effective measures towards stabilizing the situation. We call upon the population of Azerbaijan’s border regions to from now on avoid serving as shields for their own armed forces. To stabilize the situation in the border zone and to restrain the Azerbaijani armed troops, the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia will take adequate measures for which Azerbaijan’s political-military leadership will be entirely responsible,” reads the address.