Azerbaijan has lost six soldiers this year in violations of the cease-fire along the contact line separating Armenian and Azerbaijani troops.
The figure was given by Azerbaijani Defence Ministry spokesman Eldar Sabiroglu at a press conference on the contact line in Fizuli District on Friday.
"In the past five months Armenian Armed Forces have broken the cease-fire 447 times, opening intensive fire. As a result, six Azerbaijan servicemen were martyred. The ceasefire was broken most often in the Agdam, Fuzuli and Gazakh sectors of the front line. Over this period, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs carried out monitoring of the front line five times," Sabiroglu said.
"Armenia is provoking Azerbaijan to war. It is forcing Azerbaijan to begin war," he declared.
"The violation of the ceasefire every day, firing at civilian settlements in Azerbaijan, Armenians’ changing their positions in the international negotiations, their political manipulation and the losses of the two sides during ceasefire violation prove this."
The Armenian side has in turn accused Azerbaijan of breaking the ceasefire. The Armenian Defence Ministry said on 2 June that eight Armenian servicemen had been killed and seven wounded in ceasefire violations by Azerbaijan in 2011. The ministry said that Azerbaijan had violated the ceasefire "almost 5,000 times".
The comments come three weeks before a meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents with the mediation of Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev to discuss a solution to the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. Ahead of the meeting, the presidents of Russia, France and the USA have urged the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders to prepare their populations for peace.
Armenia and Azerbaijan signed the ceasefire in 1994. Talks on a lasting peace deal have been under way ever since, brokered by the OSCE Minsk Group. Armenian forces remain in control of Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
'Strong army'
Talking about the state of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, Lt-Col Sabiroglu said that the Azerbaijan army was the strongest in the South Caucasus, capable of achieving any objective.
He said that 47 military units had been refurbished in recent years and that the army was well-equipped.
On discipline within the army, the spokesman said, "There is no army in the world where there are no incidents among servicemen. The Defence Ministry does not claim that the Azerbaijani army is ideal. The losses of soldiers, of personnel during such incidents is hard to take for the Defence Ministry too."
He said that the ministry was taking action to regulate relations both in legal terms and on the ground.
Asked about the arrest of military commissars in a number of Azerbaijani districts, Eldar Sabiroglu said: “Every serviceman who makes a mistake is punished for his actions by the ministry’s leadership and is brought to justice. As a part of the struggle against corruption in Azerbaijan, the Defence Ministry will further investigate the activity of anyone who violates the law or abuses their authority; they will be brought to justice. The punishment of law breakers and those who abuse authority enhances the prestige of the Azerbaijani army.”
He said that in several cases Armenian soldiers had voluntarily crossed to the Azerbaijani side in order to escape hunger in the Armenian army.
Asked about the military parade in Baku to mark the Azerbaijani Armed Forces Day on 26 June, the spokesman said he would provide information about the military units and hardware involved in the parade nearer the time.
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