Aghdam, April 29, AZERTAC

“State bodies are documenting losses and damage to civilians,” spokesperson of Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hikmat Hajiyev has told local and foreign journalists visiting the frontline.

“Armenia intensively shells the civilians along the troops` contact line, violating its obligations and commitments under the humanitarian law. The occupant country has continued its aggressive acts since April 2 despite the two countries agreed to restore ceasefire on April 5,” Hajiyev added.

He said Azerbaijan condemned these activities, noting that Armenia violates its obligations under the Geneva convention. “And the international community was informed about this.” The spokesman said that official Baku had repeatedly informed the international community that the presence of the Armenian armed forces in the occupied Azerbaijani territories was “a huge” threat to the regional peace and security.

“Today Armenian leadership carries out an aggression policy. The Armenian head of state said that he rejects the peace talks, which attests to his disregarding the negotiation process. Azerbaijan’s expectations from the international community are that it will take effective measures to put an end to such aggressive actions of Armenia. Armenia must be forced to peace. Azerbaijan once again expressed its readiness for the negotiation process. Azerbaijan sees the solution of the problem in the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council. According to these resolutions, the Armenian armed forces must be unconditionally pulled out from the occupied Azerbaijani lands,” he noted.

“This is the second visit of journalists to the frontline, which is organized with the aim of raising the international community`s awareness of the atrocities committed by the Armenian army against civilians on the line of contact. This media group includes representatives of Al-Jazeera, Reuters, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, Anadolu Agency, TRT World, BBC, as well as local journalists. These visits will be organized on a regular basis,” Hajiyev added.