Azerbaijan Republic says soldier killed in clashes with Armenia in Karabakh
Azerbaijan Republic has accused the neighboring Armenia of killing one of its soldiers in the latest incidence of routine clashes over the disputed Karabakh region.
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said in a statement on Monday that the soldier was killed in an exchange of cross-border fire with Armenians, warning that the provocation could inflame the already simmering tensions over Karabakh.
“As a result of a shootout with Armenian forces, an Azerbaijani soldier died on the (Karabakh) frontline," said the statement from Baku, adding that Azerbaijan’s potential response to the killing will be “harsh.”
"Armenia's political and military leadership bears full responsibility for this bloody provocation and rising tensions across the frontline,” it said.
Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave recognized as the territory of Azerbaijan Republic but controlled by ethnic Armenians, has been the source of a decades-long conflict. The two countries regularly exchange fire along their borders and across the disputed region with casualties often reported.
A ceasefire in 1994 ended a bloody conflict that left some 30,000 people dead and saw the ethnic Armenians backed by Yerevan seizing the territory.
However, tensions once again boiled over in September when Azerbaijan Republic and Armenia reportedly used large-caliber artillery in tit-for-tat attacks. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) intervened by condemning “in strong terms” the violence and calling on the two sides to "accept an OSCE mechanism to investigate ceasefire violations.” Later reports said that presidents of the two countries had agreed to hold a meeting before the end of the year.
Azerbaijan Republic, boasting its modernized military, often threatens to take back Karabakh while Armenia has warned that it is capable of crushing any offensive.
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