Today, Friday, clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia renewed for the second day in a row in the border region of Nagorno-Karabakh, and this comes ahead of an upcoming meeting that brings together the leaders of the two countries next Sunday, with international mediation, to calm the conflict that has been going on between them for nearly 30 years over that region.
And the Armenian Ministry of Defense said in a statement that, “Friday morning, the Azerbaijani armed forces violated the ceasefire towards Sotak (an Armenian border town) using drones.”
It added that two soldiers of the Armenian armed forces were wounded, one of them in critical condition.
Yesterday, Thursday, an Azerbaijani soldier was killed and 4 Armenian soldiers were wounded in clashes on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which have been fighting for control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region for 3 decades.
On the other hand, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense accused the Armenian forces of firing artillery at Azerbaijani positions on the border.
“Despite warnings about the need to put an end to the provocations, the Armenian side once again violated the ceasefire regime,” the ministry added in a statement.
-The clashes come ahead of a meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Brussels next Sunday for talks sponsored by the European Union, in an effort to end the decades-old conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, recognized as part of Azerbaijan but mainly inhabited by Armenians, which has led to To the outbreak of fighting over and over again.
-In this context, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev are supposed to meet next Sunday in Brussels, according to the European Union, which will sponsor the meeting, after intensive discussions that lasted 4 days at the beginning of May in Washington between two delegations from the two countries.
American invitations
In a related context, the United States, which recently hosted talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia, urged the two countries to take advantage of any peace initiatives.
“We believe that this kind of violence undermines the progress that Armenia and Azerbaijan have made towards a lasting peace that preserves the dignity of both sides,” foreign ministry spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.
He called on the leaders of the two countries to agree to remove their forces from the borders, according to a proposal presented by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken during the negotiations hosted by Washington earlier this month.
“We believe there is still a way forward. We believe there is a peaceful solution,” Patel said.
