YEREVAN, ARMENIA: Azerbaijan said on Thursday that one of its soldiers was killed in clashes on the border with Armenia, which started ahead of talks organised by the European Union to resolve their three-decade-long territorial dispute.
Both countries blamed each other for gunfire along their tense border. Azerbaijan’s defence ministry said, “A soldier from the Azerbaijani army was killed after a provocation from the Armenian forces.” On the other hand, Armenia said four of its soldiers got injured in the clashes, AFP said.
The meeting hosted by the European Union comes after the United States of America claimed that “tangible progress” had been made at talks with foreign ministers last week in Washington, D.C., to resolve the conflict over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. However, both sides accused one another of firing along their border on Thursday.
According to a statement from Armenia’s defence ministry, “Azerbaijani forces are shooting artillery and mortars at Armenian positions in the Sotk region” in the country’s east. The ministry also said that three of its soldiers had been hurt.
According to the defence ministry of Azerbaijan, “large-calibre weapons” used by the Armenian side to break the ceasefire agreement once more wounded one Azerbaijani soldier. The mortar bombardment also resumed. The incident occurs only days before Charles Michel, president of the European Council, meets Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia and Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan for discussions in Brussels.
According to the EU, the two leaders had agreed to meet with the presidents of France and Germany on June 1, during a meeting of European leaders in Moldova.
Tens of thousands of people lost their lives in two wars involving the region, the first ending in 1994 after lasting for six years and the second in 2020, which ended in a ceasefire deal negotiated by Russia. But since then, clashes have broken out regularly.
As a significant regional power struggling to retain its decisive influence due to the impact of its war on Ukraine, the West is making efforts to mediate a peaceful resolution of the crisis.
