Azerbaijan again accuses Armenia of ceasefire violations

Azerbaijan has again accused Armenia of violating the ceasefire, once on Monday morning and again between Monday evening and Tuesday morning.  As has become the norm, Armenia denied the allegations, while in turn accusing Azerbaijan of spreading disinformation.

According to Azerbaijan’s Defence Ministry, at approximately 11:10 on Monday morning, units of Armenia’s Armed Forces opened fire on Azerbaijani positions in the southeastern sector of the border.

In its response published Monday evening, the Armenian Defence Ministry claimed that their Azerbaijani counterpart was ‘spread[ing] disinformation’.

The ministry also reiterated their reminder that the Office of the Prime Minister had proposed the establishment of a joint Armenia–Azerbaijan mechanism for the investigation of ceasefire violations, as well as their own offer to investigate ‘the facts’, should Azerbaijan provide evidence.

The second statement issued by Azerbaijan’s Defence Ministry alleged that units of the Armenian Armed Forces opened fire on Azerbaijani combat positions in the eastern and southeastern sectors of the border between 17:00 on Monday and 4:45 on Tuesday.

As in its prior rebuttal, Armenia’s Defence Ministry noted the joint mechanism and their offers to investigate, while also claiming that Azerbaijan’s statement ‘does not correspond to reality’.

These most recent ceasefire accusations come on the heels of a series of allegations from Azerbaijan on the evening of 29 March, the morning of 30 March, and overnight from 30–31 March.

Armenia denied all the allegations using similar rhetoric used in these most recent statements. One addition, however, was their own accusation that Azerbaijan had itself violated the ceasefire by firing towards the Khnatsakh settlement in Syunik, damaging a residential house.

As proof, Armenia’s Defence Ministry attached photos of a broken window with a bullet hole and the bullet itself to their official statement.

On Monday, CivilNet published a video of their visit to the settlement, during which they spoke to the unnamed owner of the damaged house, who claimed that ‘there was a general targeted shooting at the civilian population’.

Another resident stated that the shootings have been occurring ‘for seven days’.

‘They [Azerbaijanis] shoot at night; there is no shooting during the day. They start at 10:30pm, and they shoot until 6 am’, the unnamed resident said.

The man also stated that after the window of the residential house was damaged, the locals ‘seem to be a little stressed, [the people] say [Azerbaijanis] will shoot at us tomorrow’, while also noting that Azerbaijan’s military position looks towards the school, adding concerns that they could shoot at it as well.

Yerevan rejects Baku’s ceasefire violation accusations, claims Azerbaijan has fired towards Armenia

Armenia claimed that Azerbaijan opened fire towards the Khnatsakh settlement in Syunik, damaging a residential house.

OC MediaXandie (Alexandra) Kuenning