Armenia accuses Azerbaijani fire of causing damage in border village

For the second time this week, Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of firing towards the Khoznavar village in the Syunik Province, causing damage.

On Wednesday evening, Armenia’s Defence Ministry reported that at around 22:20, units of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces opened fire in the direction of Khoznavar, ‘resulting in damage to a residential house’.

The ministry additionally called on Azerbaijan to ‘conduct an investigation into the shelling of the residential house in Khoznavar and to provide public clarification’.

Attached to the statement were a series of photos, including one that showed a bullet hole through a window, while another showed a mirror broken as a result of a bullet hitting it. The bullet itself was also photographed, lying on a table amongst broken glass.

There has been no official response from Azerbaijan as of the time of this publication.

On Thursday, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s press secretary, Nazeli Baghdasaryan, told Armenpress journalists that Pashinyan ‘condemns’ the shooting, as well as the ‘violations of the ceasefire regime by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces’, and that he ‘calls on the Azerbaijani authorities to investigate these cases and provide explanations’.

The comments were in response to a question regarding Pashinyan’s attitude towards the burning of Turkish and Azerbaijani flags during the Armenian Genocide commemorative procession organised by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) party the night prior. Baghdasaryan emphasised that Pashinyan also condemned this practice, considering it ‘irresponsible and unacceptable’, and calling it ‘a provocative and inciting practice’.

This is the fourth time Armenia has accused Azerbaijani fire of damaging structures in border villages since the end of March, and the second time Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of firing towards Khoznovar.

Previously, Armenia’s Defence Ministry accused Azerbaijani Armed Forces of opening fire towards Khoznovar at approximately 02:30 on Monday morning, inflicting damage on a solar water heater installed on the roof of a residential building. The ministry noted that no casualties were reported, and attached a number of photos to the official statement depicting the alleged damage, as well as the bullet itself.

In response to this alleged incident, an MP from the ruling Civil Contract party, Vahagn Aleksanyan, claimed that Azerbaijan ‘periodically tries to lead the situation to a new escalation’, while in turn, ‘we [Armenia], naturally, try to prevent that new escalation every time’.

‘We understand that the tension or possible escalation of the situation depends on both Baku's wishes and our abilities to manage that situation’, Aleksanyan said during the parliamentary briefing on Wednesday.

He added that Armenia was ‘always ready and doing everything we can to bear that responsibility and ensure that a new war does not suddenly break out in our republic’.

The other two cases where Armenia accused Azerbaijani fire of damaging buildings in a border village occurred in Khnatsakh, also in the Syunik Province.

On 14 April, Armenia’s Defence Ministry reported that the cultural centre in Khnatsakh village in the Syunik Province had been damaged as a result of Azerbaijani fire the night before.

Prior to that, on 31 March, the Defence Ministry reported that a residential house, also in Khnatsakh, had been damaged from Azerbaijani fire. Attached to the official statement were images of a window broken due to a bullet striking it, and the remains of the bullet itself.

Armenian Parliamentary Speaker Simonyan says ‘no deadlock’ in peace talks with Azerbaijan

Alen Simonyan also revealed that he had met with his Azerbaijani counterpart in Saint Petersburg, Russia the prior week.

OC MediaYousef Bardouka