Azerbaijan Initiates Local Yet Extensive Gunfire with UAVs; Unfortunately, 4 Soldiers Killed - Pashinyan

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received a delegation led by Sir John Whittingdale, a member of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom Parliament. The Prime Minister welcomed the UK parliamentarians' visit to Armenia and referred to the Azerbaijani escalation at the Armenia-Azerbaijan border.

“Mr. Whittingdale, I welcome you and your delegation to our country. Unfortunately, your visit coincided with a new escalation at the border with Azerbaijan, where Azerbaijan initiated a new provocation resulting in the deaths of four Armenian soldiers. Sadly, this is not an isolated incident; we are continually witnessing a series of Azerbaijani provocations. According to our assessment, this is Azerbaijan's policy aimed at disrupting the peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan by all possible means. The aggressive rhetoric of Azerbaijani official representatives, coupled with overt territorial claims against Armenia, further testifies to this. Clearly, the strategy of the Azerbaijani government is directed towards escalating hostility in our region, which is a very concerning fact. Nevertheless, despite all these facts, our government is committed to the peace process, as our conviction is that there is no alternative to the peace process. Of course, we must do everything to achieve concrete results in the peace process, and we are doing that. But unfortunately, it is impossible to do this without the political will of the other side. The incident claiming the lives of four soldiers today not only reflects the absence of political will for peace but also signals Azerbaijan's intentions to deepen enmity and escalate military actions.

This is evidenced by the events of yesterday and today. Azerbaijani media reported last night that during today’s incident, an Armenian position allegedly fired at Azerbaijani positions. Immediately following this, the Armenian Military Police announced that an investigation had been launched based on this information because the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia has a very strict order not to provoke any escalation and not to fall for provocations. This was a very clear message from Armenia, and it was explicitly stated in the Military Police’s press release that if this fact is proven, it will amount to a violation of orders with legal consequences. Despite this, early this morning, Azerbaijan initiated local yet extensive gunfire using UAVs, and, as I mentioned, regrettably, four soldiers were killed.

The issue is not even the incident reported by Azerbaijani media last night because we have a very long and complicated border, and if anyone is looking for a pretext for escalation and to hinder the peace process, they will always find it, even if in the form of media reports. Unfortunately, we continuously see this pattern of behavior from Azerbaijan,” noted Prime Minister Pashinyan.

Addressing Armenia-United Kingdom relations, the Prime Minister expressed satisfaction that there has been new dynamics in their relations in recent years. Nikol Pashinyan expressed hope that this dynamic will not only continue but will rise to a new level in their relations.

Sir John Whittingdale expressed condolences and solidarity with the families of those killed as a result of Azerbaijani military actions and the Armenian people. Simultaneously, he expressed concern regarding military actions and emphasized the necessity of taking steps aimed at strengthening peace and stability.

The interlocutors discussed several issues related to multilateral cooperation between Armenia and the United Kingdom, as well as strengthening inter-parliamentary ties. They touched upon democratic reforms being implemented in Armenia, steps taken by the government against corruption, and issues regarding processes occurring in the Caucasus. UK parliamentarians also addressed the humanitarian challenges faced by over 100,000 individuals forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh and the capacities of the Armenian government to address these issues. The support of the international community was also emphasized.