Azerbaijan says Armenian forces fired on its troops

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Azerbaijan’s defence ministry stated on Saturday that Armenian forces had fired on its troops in a single day, and that Azerbaijan military models took “retaliatory measures”.

It stated Armenian models opened small arms fireplace on Azerbaijani troopers in Sadarak, north of Nakhchivan, an exclave of Azerbaijan that borders Armenia, Turkey and Iran.

The ministry’s assertion didn’t say if there had been any casualties.

Reuters couldn’t independently confirm the reported incident, which got here towards the background of rising tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan in current days.

The Armenian authorities and state media stated Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held cellphone conversations on Saturday with the leaders of France, Germany and Iran and with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The authorities stated Pashinyan instructed Blinken and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi that tensions had been rising on the border and Azerbaijan was concentrating troops across the Armenian-populated enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku has denied this.

The authorities stated Pashinyan instructed Blinken and Raisi he was prepared to carry an pressing assembly with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to cut back tensions.

State news company Armenpress stated Pashinyan had comparable conversations with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Azerbaijan in the meantime denounced the holding on Saturday of a presidential election in Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory that’s internationally recognised as a part of Azerbaijan however is populated by about 120,000 ethnic Armenians.

Nagorno-Karabakh established de facto independence in a conflict within the early Nineties after the collapse of the Soviet Union, however Azerbaijan recaptured vital quantities of territory in its most up-to-date conflict with Armenia in 2020.

In a press release, Azerbaijan’s international ministry known as the ethnic Armenian management of Karabakh a “puppet separatist regime” and stated the vote was unlawful.

“The Republic of Azerbaijan will resolutely counter threats to its sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders,” the assertion stated.

“The only way to achieve peace and stability in the region is the unconditional and complete withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and the disbandment of the puppet regime.”