Azerbaijan says Armenia opened fire at military positions in Kalbajar district

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Azerbaijan said Friday that the Armenian military had opened fire on its positions in its western district of Kalbajar.

A statement by the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said Armenia's Armed Forces fired at positions near the settlement of Yellija at 5.50 a.m. local time (0150GMT).

The statement said Azerbaijani units took no retaliatory action in order "not to escalate the situation and ensure stability on the two countries' conditional border."

"We call on the Armenian military leadership to refrain from such provocations aimed at disrupting 5-month-long stability and getting the situation out of control on the conditional border and demand to identify and punish those responsible for committing these actions," the statement concluded.

Relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions, including Kalbajar.

Azerbaijan liberated most of the region during the war in the fall of 2020, which ended with a Russian-brokered peace agreement, opening the door to normalization.

Baku initiated an anti-terrorism operation in Karabakh last September to establish constitutional order, after which illegal separatist forces in the region surrendered.