UPDATE - Azerbaijan says Armenia opened fire at military positions in autonomous Nakhchivan exclave

ADDS BACKGROUND, MINOR EDITS

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Armenia opened fire at military positions in Azerbaijan’s autonomous Nakhchivan exclave, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said on Thursday.

In a statement, the ministry said that the military positions near the settlement of Ganza, located about 5 kilometers (3,1 miles) from the Armenian border, were fired upon by units of the Armenian Armed Forces.

The settlement is situated in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic's southernmost Ordubad district, and is also located about 6 kilometers (3,7 miles) from the Iranian border.

“The Azerbaijan Army Units took retaliatory measures,” the statement further said, adding that the incident took place at 6:10 p.m. local time (1410GMT).

Armenia's Defense Ministry denied the statement from the Azerbaijani side, saying that it "does not correspond to reality."

It further said that through diplomatic channels, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's office proposed to the presidential administration of Azerbaijan the establishment of a bilateral mechanism for investigating cases of cease-fire violations.

Late last month, Azerbaijan said that Armenia opened fire at military positions in the Lachin border district in the country's East Zangezur economic region.

Yerevan had denied Azerbaijan's statement.

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.

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.