Azerbaijan says Armenia tried to carry out reconnaissance flights over Lachin region

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Azerbaijan said on Monday that Armenia tried to carry out reconnaissance flights over its military positions in the country’s western Lachin region.

A statement by the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said that Yerevan’s attempted reconnaissance flights over Lachin involved a quadcopter and took place on Sunday at around 5:40 p.m. local time (1340GMT).

“Thanks to the vigilance of the Azerbaijan Army Units, the activity of the next detected UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) was interfered with special technical means and it had to leave the area,” the statement added.

Armenia's Defense Ministry denied Azerbaijan's statement, saying it "does not correspond to reality."

Relations between Baku and Yerevan have remained tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions, including Lachin.

Most of the territory was liberated by Azerbaijan during a 44-day war in the fall of 2020, which ended after a Russian-brokered peace agreement that opened the door to normalization and talks on border demarcation.

Last September, Azerbaijan established full sovereignty in Karabakh following an "anti-terrorist operation" in September last year, after which separatist forces in the region surrendered.

Tensions between the two neighboring countries have risen since then, with Baku most recently accusing Yerevan of undertaking “provocative actions” showing its preparations for another war with Azerbaijan in a statement on Thursday.

Armenia defined Azerbaijan's statement as "unacceptable," adding that Yerevan "does not have any other goal in terms of defense & security beyond the protection of its internationally recognized territory."