On February 12, the relative calm that had been prevailing on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border for several months was broken. On the same day, as a result of the Armenian side firing on the positions of the Azerbaijani Army in the direction of Zangilan, in the area of ​​Kollugishlaq village of the region, the military serviceman of the State Border Service No. N military unit, soldier Parviz Khalilzade was injured.

The military provocation that took place in our country rightly caused a serious protest. On February 13, a revenge operation was carried out by units of the State Border Service. According to the information released by the press center of the DSC, as a result of the operation, the combat post of the Armenian army near the Nerkin-And settlement of Gafan district, where our soldiers were fired upon, was completely destroyed, and the combat positions were silenced. There are reports of serious casualties among the personnel of the destroyed combat post.

The Security Council declared that every provocation of the Armenian side aimed at intensifying the operational conditions at the conventional border will be responded to with more serious and decisive measures. At the same time, it was noted that the responsibility for the incident falls entirely on the military and political leadership of Armenia.

According to the fact, in the Gubadli Military Prosecutor's Office, a criminal case was initiated under Article 29,120.2.12 of the Criminal Code (attempt to commit murder with the intention of national, racial, religious enmity or enmity), witnesses were interrogated, appropriate expertise was appointed, execution was directed, and immediate necessary investigative actions were taken. performed.

At the same time, the information released by the Ministry of Defense yesterday stated that on February 12 at 20:50 and 23:40, the units of the Armenian armed forces from the positions located in the direction of Chinarli settlement of Tovuzgala district fired at the positions of our army located in the direction of Kokhanabi settlement of Tovuz district. fired. The Armenian Ministry of Defense admitted that four of its servicemen were killed and one was wounded.

The immediate response to the military provocation once again confirmed the views expressed by President Ilham Aliyev in an interview with local television channels on January 10. It should be recalled that our head of state said in an interview: "That's why we should never calm down, and if you remember, I said after the Second Karabakh war that we should create a stronger army." We did that too. We have come a long way in the last three years. Now it is probably not correct to say all of them, but the information in the press is enough. New armed units played a very important role in anti-terrorist measures, new equipment, new ammunition, the most modern equipment. I have already said that, this year, at least one billion manats will be invested in our factories under the defense industry complex, both by the state and the private sector. That is, we will provide ourselves with the necessary means in a larger volume.

That is, we can never calm down. The process of building our army will continue and Armenia should know that no matter how many weapons it buys, no matter how much they support them, if there is any source of danger to us, we will immediately destroy that source of danger. I don't hide it so that tomorrow no one will say that something unexpected happened. Let the listeners hear that if we see a real threat to us, not those broken French "Bastion" cars, those tin cans, but if a real threat arises, we will destroy that threat at any point with preventive measures."

As we mentioned in the introduction, there has been relative calm on the conventional border for several months. The guns on both sides were silent. More precisely, because there were no provocations from Armenia, the units of the Azerbaijani Army were in the barracks. President Ilham Aliyev also mentioned this point on February 1 when he received General Secretary of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Martin Chungong. The head of our state stated that there is already de facto peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and peaceful conditions have been prevailing on the border of the two countries for several months. But in order to bring this process to a logical end, a peace treaty must be signed and Armenia's territorial claims against Azerbaijan must be ended.

Hikmat Hajiyev, assistant to the President of Azerbaijan and Head of the Department of Foreign Policy of the Presidential Administration, spoke about this in an interview with the German newspaper "Berliner Zeitung" some time ago.

He noted that after the anti-terrorist measures held on September 19-20 and the full restoration of Azerbaijan's sovereignty, the Karabakh issue, which is the main source of tension between the two countries, was completely removed from the agenda: "Thus, at the moment, we do not see a serious obstacle to the conclusion of a peace agreement. We are now witnessing the calmest days between the two countries in the last 30 years. Since both armies returned to their barracks, not even a skirmish has taken place...”

The information released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday says that after the military provocation that resulted in the wounding of our serviceman, the Azerbaijani side eliminated the threat from the Armenian military post: "This measure was only a retaliatory measure. "Azerbaijan is committed to the peace process and calls on the Armenian side to refrain from military escalations that could jeopardize efforts in this direction."

Commenting on the incident, Russian President's Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov called on Azerbaijan and Armenia to exercise restraint. "We call on both sides to exercise restraint. We will watch carefully," said the Kremlin spokesman, adding that such events do not help the negotiation process to progress and do not bring the signing of the peace agreement between Baku and Yerevan closer. The press secretary of the President of Russia emphasized that there is hope that the negotiation process will be continued for the signing of the peace agreement.

Russian analyst, director of the Institute of Political Studies Sergey Markov said that the escalation on the Azerbaijan-Armenia conditional border was organized by France. The political scientist emphasized that what happened when Baku and Yerevan were preparing to sign the peace agreement raised questions: "Why? After all, both sides want to sign a peace treaty. It is possible that the answer to the question lies at the scene. Because the Armenian army struck from the area where the European Union mission is located. It is possible that it was initiated by French intelligence. Because Macron wants to push Russia out of this position and become the main military ally of Armenia. Therefore, France, EU and NATO are the main beneficiaries of military operations between Armenia and Azerbaijan."

Reserve colonel Jalil Khalilov, while commenting on the provocation caused by the Armenian army, said that the recent events show that Yerevan is far from peaceful, and that it is purposefully trying to aggravate the situation in the region: "The opposing side is trying to keep the situation in the region tense by periodically causing such incidents at the conventional border. The goal is to prevent lasting peace in the region."

According to him, border provocations put both regional peace into question and disrespect international law: "Of course, this was a deliberate provocation by Armenia. There are specific facts that prove this. It is clear from the circulating videos that these provocations were prepared in advance. The analysis of the footage shows that the Armenian sniper conveniently leaves his position immediately after firing at our border guard. That is, the Armenian sniper was placed on the front line on purpose and provoked Azerbaijan. The fact that the incident was committed with the participation of several Armenian soldiers suggests that it is absurd and far from the truth that Yerevan is trying to present this provocation as the act of some soldier."

Political commentator Asif Narimanli said: "Besides the military and political leadership of Armenia, the mission of the European Union is also responsible for what happened. The mission should normally have reacted to the incident and condemned the provocation. But somehow they didn't do it. It seems that the European emissaries are not even trying to investigate the incident. However, it is their duty to comment on the incident. The USA and France want to maintain their presence in Armenia and the region by intensifying the situation. But Armenia must finally understand that no one will be able to stand behind it."

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