ARMENIA ACCUSES AZERBAIJAN OF BREAKING CEASEFIRE AGAIN
RIA Novosti
13:00 | 07/ 03/ 2006
YEREVAN/BAKU, March 7 (RIA Novosti, Gamlet Matevosyan, Gerai Dadashev)
– Armenia’s defense ministry Tuesday again accused Azerbaijani troops
of breaking a ceasefire agreement between the two countries.
“The Azerbaijani side shot at Armenian positions yesterday at about
19.05 local time [19.05 Moscow time] in the Baik region, and at 21.40
[local time] in the Berd region. On Tuesday the shooting continued,
with firing at about 02.50 [local time] in two areas around Adzhevan,”
ministry spokesman Seiran Shakhsuvaryan said, adding that Armenian
troops had not returned fire.
Shakhsuvaryan said that Armenian troops had come under fire from
Azerbaijani troops almost daily in recent weeks.
The conflict between the former Soviet republics of Armenia and
Azerbaijan over Nagorny Karabakh, an Azerbaijani region with a largely
Armenian population, first erupted in 1988, when the region claimed
independence from Azerbaijan to join Armenia.
Over 30,000 people were reported dead on both sides between 1988
and 1994, and over 100 others died after a ceasefire was concluded
in 1994, leaving Nagorno-Karabakh in Armenian hands, but tensions
between Azerbaijan and Armenia have persisted.