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3000 CASES OF VIOLATION OF CEASE-FIRE

Politics


“There have been over 3000 cases of violation of the cease-fire regime on the contact line of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijani Armed Forces this year,” said Andranik Mkrtumyan, head of the frontier representation of the General Staff of RA Armed Forces.


Five people died and 22 servicemen got wounded in the result. A gross violation of the ceasefire regime by the Azerbaijani side was registered in the area of Mehrab village, Martakert. Azeris have applied long-range artillery and bombed our frontier villages, roads and bridges. Great harms were caused to the agriculture as peasants are unable to till their lands for fear of being shot dead.


Andranik Mkrtumyan says the OSCE mission has conducted eleven crisis-monitoring at the contact line but three of them failed because of the Azeri efforts. Yet, during the monitoring the Armenian side submitted the mission with the chronicle of the incidents and unprecedented violations of the ceasefire. They also presented their observations and notifications.


The Azeri side bombs Armenian villages at any time. We have suggested the OSCE to help restore the telephone communication between the military units of Ghazakh and Ijevan so that the commanders can clear up the problems on the spot. The Azeri side keeps rejecting this proposal.


We have also suggested monitoring the area of Chinari village, Tavush marz, as it is one of the vulnerable territories in Armenia.


Six cases of a frontier violation have been reported this year - two by Armenia and Karabakh and the other four by Azerbaijan. Upon the mediation of the the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) four civilians, a serviceman and a cadaver were returned to Armenia in 2008.


They returned the dead soldier 18 days later but we return their dead servicemen immediately.


Mkrtumyan states the Armenian side has returned two servicemen and one civilian to Azerbaijan. “Presently, our serviceman Paruyr Sahakyan is held hostage in Azerbaijan. He was taken hostage on May 25. According to the Azeri side Sahakyan doesn’t want to return to Armenia. He has sent no letters to his parents so far. While Azeri serviceman Rafik Hasanov who is presently in Armenia has already sent a few letters to his parents. It is due to mention that during a special television appearance Hasanov announced that he doesn’t want to go back to Azerbaijan.”