Azerbaijain Stages ‘Major Drills’ Near Disputed Region

AZERBAIJAIN STAGES ‘MAJOR DRILLS’ NEAR DISPUTED REGION
Ilya Pitalev

RIA Novosti
11/07/2012
BAKU

Azerbaijan’s armed forces have been staging major military exercises
near the Armenian-backed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Azerbaijan
military said.

Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiyev is overlooking the drills,
which involve troops as well as “the use of modern machinery and
weapons,” a ministry spokesman told RIA Novosti.

The exercises will end on Friday.

Last month, three Armenian and five Azerbaijani soldiers were killed in
shoot-outs across the border, prompting U.S. State Secretary Hillary
Clinton to call for restraint.

The two former Soviet republics fought a bloody war over the enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s which left some 30,000 people dead.

Last month, the Secretary General of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe, Lamberto Zannier, said there was “increasing
concern” about a lack of progress in international efforts to resolve
the conflict.