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Firing reported on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

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  • Firing reported on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

    Firing reported on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

    Interfax
    June 9 2004

    Yerevan. (Interfax-AVN) - The Armenian and Azerbaijani Defense
    Ministries have reported that firing has occurred on the border
    between the two countries.

    The Armenian Defense Ministry press service said the military recorded
    an attempt to illegally cross the border from Azerbaijan near the
    village of Bergaber in the Tavush region last night. The attempt was
    thwarted, and Azerbaijan opened fire at Bergaber in response, it said.

    "Armenian servicemen had no choice other than to return fire and
    suppress the fire from the Azerbaijani side," the press service said,
    adding that none of their soldiers was hurt.

    The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry's press service told Interfax that
    Armenian forces fired at an area near the community of Goradiz,
    which is 260 kilometers southwest of Baku, killing one Azerbaijani
    officer and wounding a soldier.

    In addition, the ministry reported that Armenia twice violated the
    cease-fire in the past several days. It said fire was opened from
    Armenia's Idzhevan district on the evening of June 6, and not far
    from the village of Heirimli, which is occupied by Armenia, in the
    early hours of Monday. The Azerbaijani forces suffered no losses.

    In the course of a bloody conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh between the
    Armenians and Azerbaijanis in the early 1990s, Baku lost control over
    Nagorno-Karabakh and seven other districts bordering it. As a result,
    over one million Azerbaijanis became refugees, who are currently
    living in tent camps.

    The UN Security Council has condemned the occupation of Azerbaijani
    territory and called on Armenia to withdraw its troops from the
    occupied territories.

    Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a cease-fire agreement on May 12, 1994.


    A self-proclaimed republic of Nagorno-Karabakh currently exists,
    which is populated mostly by ethnic Armenians. It has close economic
    and military ties with Armenia. Azerbaijan is seeking to restore full
    control over Nagorno-Karabakh.

    A negotiating process on settling the conflict is continuing with
    international mediation. In particular, the OSCE set up the Minsk
    Group, which is co-chaired by U.S., Russian and French representatives,
    to mediate in the negotiations.
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