Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Azerbaijan Says It Shot Down Armenian Drone Near Breakaway Region

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Azerbaijan Says It Shot Down Armenian Drone Near Breakaway Region

    Moscow Times, Russia
    Jan 29 2015


    Azerbaijan Says It Shot Down Armenian Drone Near Breakaway Region



    BAKU -- Azerbaijan said Thursday that it had shot down an Armenian
    drone near the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, a report dismissed
    by Armenia as "absurd."

    Renewed violence this year along the border between Armenia and
    Azerbaijan and around Nagorno-Karabakh, which lies inside Azerbaijan
    but is controlled by its majority ethnic Armenians, has underlined the
    risk of a wider conflict breaking out in the South Caucasus, which is
    crossed by oil and gas pipelines.

    The Azeri Defence Ministry said the drone had been shot down over
    Azeri territory but Artsrun Hovhannesyan, the Armenian defense
    minister's press secretary, denied the report.

    "Nagorno-Karabakh officially refutes this information. It is absurd," he said.

    Fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh erupted in 1991 as the Soviet Union
    broke up and a cease-fire was called in 1994. But Azerbaijan and
    Armenia have regularly traded accusations of further violence around
    Nagorno-Karabakh and along their border.

    Nagorno-Karabakh has run its own affairs with heavy military and
    financial backing from Armenia since the war that killed about 30,000
    people. Armenian-backed forces also hold seven Azeri districts
    surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh.

    Efforts to reach a permanent settlement have failed despite mediation
    led by France, Russia and the U.S.

    Oil-producing Azerbaijan, host to global majors including BP , Chevron
    and ExxonMobil, frequently threatens to take the mountain region back
    by force, and is spending heavily on its armed forces.

    Armenia, an ally of Russia, says it would not stand by if
    Nagorno-Karabakh were attacked.

    http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/azerbaijan-says-it-shot-down-armenian-drone-near-breakaway-region/515114.html

Working...
X