ANKARA
Azerbaijani forces shot down an Armenian drone spying on Azerbaijani positions amid clashes across the countries’ mutual northern border area, officials said Thursday.
The Armenian tactical unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) X-55 was detected and destroyed early in the morning, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said in a written statement.
Earlier on Sunday, the Armenian army attempted to attack Azerbaijani positions with artillery fire in the direction of the northwestern Tovuz border district, withdrawing after suffering losses following retaliation from the Azerbaijani military.
Recent border clashes with Armenia have resulted in the martyrdom of 11 Azerbaijani soldiers — including a major general and a colonel — and injured four others.
Despite international calls for restraint, Armenian troops opened fire on civilian settlements in the villages of Agdam and Dondar Kuscu. A 76-year-old Azerbaijani citizen lost his life in the attacks by Armenia, which Baku has accused of hiding losses.
Azerbaijan has blamed Armenia for the “provocative” actions, with Turkey throwing its weight behind Baku and saying it warning Yerevan that it would not hesitate to stand against any kind of attack on its eastern neighbor.
“This attack goes beyond the diameter of Armenia. The aim is both to block the solution in the Upper Karabakh and to reveal new conflict areas,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.
Upper Karabakh, or Nagorno-Karabakh, an internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan, has been illegally occupied since 1991 through Armenian military aggression.
Four UN Security Council and two UN General Assembly resolutions, as well as decisions by many international organizations, refer to this fact and demand the withdrawal of the occupational Armenian forces from Upper Karabakh and seven other occupied regions of Azerbaijan.