Yerevan rebuts yet another allegation by Baku of a ceasefire violation

On Wednesday morning, Armenia’s Defence Ministry rebutted Azerbaijani allegations that the Armenian Armed Forces had violated the ceasefire the night prior.

The ministry stated that Azerbaijan’s claim that Armenian Armed Forces had opened fire on Azerbaijani combat positions located in the eastern and southeastern sections of the border between 20:45–21:30 on Tuesday evening did ‘not correspond to reality’.

It was the 27th such rebuttal from the Armenian side since the two countries ostensibly agreed to the text of a peace agreement on 13 March.

On Monday night into Tuesday morning, gunfire was heard in the village of Movses in Armenia’s Tavush region. Local journalist Voskan Sargsyan wrote in a Facebook post that the gunfire was ‘so loud that it was heard in the town of Berd, located 16 kilometres from Movses’. According to Sargsyan, it marked the first case recently with gunfire being heard during daytime.

This was the second time the Armenian ministry’s rebuttal of a ceasefire violation accusation did not contain the usual notes reminding the public of Armenia’s official proposal to establish a joint Armenia–Azerbaijan mechanism for investigating ceasefire violations and related reports. Neither did it contain a line expressing Armenia’s readiness to investigate the facts supporting the Azerbaijani accusations of ceasefire violations.

The text was left out after Armenian authorities reported on 7 May on contacts with Azerbaijan regarding the ceasefire violations.

The ministry’s statement came just days after Armenia reported that yet another residential building in Khnatsakh, Syunik was damaged as a result of Azerbaijani fire. No casualties were reported.

The Saturday statement marked the sixth time that Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of damaging civilian objects in the border villages since 31 March, with all statements containing photos showing the damage caused as a result of the fire, along with the bullet fragments.

Despite the continued ceasefire violation accusations on both sides, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan has shown signs of optimism, telling RFE/RL on 9 May that ‘perhaps soon there will be good news about the signing of the peace agreement’.

Armenia optimistic about signing peace treaty as ceasefire violations continue

Armenia and Azerbaijan failed to sign the peace treaty after ostensibly agreeing to the text on 13 March.

OC MediaArshaluys Barseghyan