Azerbaijan liberates strategic areas a week into clashes

THE AZERBAIJANI army liberated some critical points in the western Aghdara province from Armenian occupation as border clashes entered their sixth day and Yerevan expressed readiness to work with mediators for a cease-fire. The Azerbaijani defense ministry on Friday said in a statement that its army forced the Armenian Army to withdraw from the Jabrayil-Fuzuli region, adding that some strategic hills in Aghdara’s Madagiz region were also liberated from occupation.

AZERBAIJAN’S Ambassador to Turkey Khazar Ibrahim said Friday that Baku will liberate its occupied territories with the power of its military forces and international laws, emphasizing the huge gap in military capabilities and economic power between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

“We did not ask help from any country, even from brotherly Turkey. Azerbaijan has very strong military forces. As our President Aliyev emphasized, we are right, and we will liberate our occupied territories by fighting against aggressors,” Ibrahim said in an interview with Demirören News Agency (DHA).

Noting that the Azerbaijani Armed Forces is advancing along all the fronts of Armenian-occupied territories, Ibrahim said fierce conflicts are taking place, specifically in the south.

“The Armenian side attacks civilians. They are attacking from Azerbaijani lands to Azerbaijan. There were 14 civilian losses Wednesday, and there is one more today,” Ibrahim said.

“Armenians are in a panic. They are carrying out propaganda against us but failing to prove. They claimed that they shot down our helicopter, which was later denied by Reuters. It turned out that it was an image of a helicopter shot down in Syria a year ago,” he said.

Speaking about the Armenian side’s allegations on the involvement of Turkish jets and drones in the conflict, Ibrahim said the claims aim to create chaos and to gain support from other countries against Azerbaijan.

“There are radar systems and various other technologies which can prove the shooting down of a jet. If the Armenian side could not prove its claims with concrete information, it means this is propaganda. It has been revealed that two Armenian jets crashed into mountains, but they are spreading this propaganda to conceal facts from their citizens,” he said.

Armenia’s defense ministry said Tuesday that a Turkish warplane taking off from Azerbaijan’s Ganja province shot down a Su-25 warplane over its territory. Armenia posted pictures earlier of the wreckage of a plane it said was the downed plane, naming its pilot as Maj. Valeri Danelin. However, it later came to light that the Su-25 jets actually crashed into mountains and were destroyed.

The Azerbaijani ambassador also confirmed claims suggesting that some terrorists from other countries joined the conflict on Armenia’s side.

“In 2014, they announced that there are some Armenians from Middle Eastern countries in our occupied territories. Yesterday, a representative of the ASALA terror group on social media called on all members to fight against Azerbaijan. They later deleted the message. Also, there are some PKK members (on the Armenian side). There have been Armenians in high ranks of the PKK terrorist organizations,” he said.

Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) was founded in 1975 in Beirut, Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War. It is responsible for hundreds of terrorist acts, including killing over 30 Turkish diplomats and officials in various attacks during that decade.