Two workers were injured today after Azerbaijani forces fired on an Armenian metallurgical plant under construction near the Nakhichevan border, the latest casualties in two months of severe ceasefire violations along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border.
Indian nationals Muhammad Asif and Mirhasan Sahajan were injured by Azerbaijani fire on the plant in Yeraskh village, according to Armenia’s Defense Ministry. The ministry said that Azerbaijan falsely accused the Armenian side of firing on Azerbaijani military positions fifteen minutes before launching an attack at 11:45 a.m. local time on June 14. Azerbaijani forces opened fire again two hours later. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said that the Azerbaijani forces were responding to a provocation from the Armenian side.
The Armenian Defense Ministry has accused the Azerbaijani armed forces of firing on Yeraskh for two days in a row. On the evening of June 13, the Azerbaijani side opened fire on Armenian combat positions near Yeraskh. One hour before the attack, the Azerbaijani side accused Armenia of firing on Azerbaijani military positions. The Armenian Defense Ministry also shared pictures of a civilian car damaged in the attack.
A civilian car and another facility were damaged following fire opened by the #Azerbaijan|i Armed Forces in the direction of #Yeraskh. pic.twitter.com/KKtQTnSFXV
— MoD of Armenia
(@ArmeniaMODTeam) June 13, 2023
(@ArmeniaMODTeam) The attack comes a week after Azerbaijan criticized the construction of a plant so close to the Armenian border with Azerbaijan’s exclave Nakhichevan, warning that it would damage the surrounding environment. The Armenian Foreign Ministry dismissed these concerns as “false,” stating that they are “simply aimed at hindering Armenia’s economic development and foreign investments.”
“We call on the international community to take concrete steps to curb Azerbaijan’s expansionist ambitions and its unacceptable policy of achieving its groundless, illogical and arbitrary demands through the use of force and the threat of force,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement condemning the attack.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry also warned in a separate statement released the same day that Azerbaijan is “preparing the ground for another aggressive action and ethnic cleansing” in Artsakh.
The Foreign Ministry said that Azerbaijan has been falsely accusing Artsakh of committing ceasefire violations every day. It said Azerbaijan disseminates fake news in advance of new escalations in order to attribute responsibility to the opposite side. The Foreign Ministry noted that the Russian peacekeeping mission in Artsakh has only recorded ceasefire violations by the Azerbaijani side.
“We call on the peacekeeping forces of the Russian Federation to strictly follow the observance of the ceasefire regime and investigate all the incidents voiced by Azerbaijan, publicly presenting the entire situation on the ground,” the Armenian Foreign Ministry said.
European Union special representative Toivo Klaar tweeted that the EU is “following closely developments in the region.”
“The shooting in all areas needs to stop. It is essential to keep up the positive momentum of successive meetings and achieve results at the negotiating table that will benefit Armenia, Azerbaijan and the entire region,” Klaar said.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have accused each other of committing ceasefire violations along the border almost every day for the past two months. Several Armenian soldiers have been killed or injured in Azerbaijani attacks on Armenia’s eastern border.
On May 17, Armenian soldier Edgar Vahan Suleymanyan, born 2003, was fatally wounded after the Azerbaijani armed forces opened fire on Armenian military positions near the Sotk village in the Gegharkunik province. Additionally, a paramedic was wounded after Azerbaijani forces also opened fire at the ambulance carrying Suleymanyan to the hospital.
On May 12, Armenian soldier Narek Norayr Baghdasaryan, born 2003, was killed and two soldiers were wounded after the Azerbaijani armed forces opened fire against Sotk, Kut and Verin Shorzha in Gegharkunik using UAVs.
On May 11, four Armenian soldiers were wounded by Azerbaijani fire near Sotk.
Armenian soldiers Arthur Sahaykan (1999), Mkrtich Harutyunyan (1989), Henrik Kocharyan (1997) and Narek Sargsyan (1994) were killed after Azerbaijani forces opened fire near the village Tegh in the Syunik province on April 11.
The Yeraskh construction site is the second plant to come under Azerbaijani fire in recent months. Operations at the Sotk gold mine, which employs 700 workers, have been partially suspended since mid-April due to periodic gunfire. The Russian-owned GeoProMining company announced that open-pit mining at Sotk has been terminated, and its personnel left without work. Employees have tried resuming work, yet have been hindered by continued shelling.
“Such a state of permanent danger for the company’s employees has been observed for more than a month. As a result, further work at the Sotk open pit became impossible due to circumstances beyond the company’s control,” GeoProMining said in a statement.
On June 13, the US Embassy in Yerevan released a security alert warning US citizens to “exercise caution near all international borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan and avoid travel near the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone and line of contact.” It specifically warned against travel along Armenia’s eastern border in the Tavush and Gegharkunik regions. It also advised against traveling to Yeraskh, the town Jermuk and the entire Syunik region.
Wednesday’s escalation took place as negotiations on a peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Artsakh conflict seem to have stalled. Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov were scheduled to meet on June 12 in Washington for a new round of negotiations. However, the talks have been postponed without an explanation. The Armenian Foreign Ministry said the talks were delayed at the request of the Azerbaijani side.
Several high-level meetings have taken place between Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders within the past weeks. No concrete agreements were announced after a meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Moldova’s capital Chisinau June 1, along with European Council President Charles Michel, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, or after an earlier trilateral meeting between Pashinyan, Aliyev and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on May 25.
After a trilateral meeting hosted by Michel in Brussels on May 14, Pashinyan announced that he is prepared to recognize Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan. Michel said that the leaders “confirmed their unequivocal commitment” to each other’s territorial integrity. He added that he “encouraged Azerbaijan to engage in developing a positive agenda with the aim of guaranteeing the rights and security” of the Armenians living in Artsakh.
Mirzoyan and Bayramov previously met in Washington for marathon talks from May 1-4. Armenian leaders said that the sides did not make progress on the most fundamental issues under negotiation. Namely, they did not reach agreements on the creation of an international mechanism to oversee talks between Artsakh and Azerbaijan or international guarantees for compliance with a peace treaty and recognition of Armenia’s territorial integrity. Bayramov, however, said that the leaders had taken “one step forward,” despite “quite a lot of differences between the positions of the parties.”
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