YEREVAN. – The Minsk Group of the OSCE does not provide specific assessments on the causes of the Armenian-Azerbaijani tension.

Chairman of the Public Council affiliated to the Ministry of Defense of Armenia, Gegham Harutyunyan, said the aforementioned at a press conference on Tuesday. He added that the Minsk Group needs to clearly identify the attacking side.

“[The Minsk] is only making calls for restraint,” noted Harutyunyan. “[But] on the one hand, it’s understandable, since the Minsk Group has a mediation mission and it should have a neutral role.”

Gegham Harutyunyan added, however, that the time has come for resorting to punitive actions against Azerbaijan.

On September 25, the Azerbaijani armed forces shelled one of the northeastern protection areas of the NKR Defense Army unit. The fire was opened from Turkish-made reactive rocket propelled howitzers (TR-107). Consequently, NKR Defense Army soldiers Norayr Khachatryan (born in 1995), Robert Mkrtchyan (born in 1995), Harut Hakobyan (born in 1997), and Karen Shahinyan (born in 1997) died from shrapnel wounds. In addition, there are sixteen wounded military servicemen.

And NKR President Bako Sahakyan signed decrees, whereby the aforesaid fallen soldiers were posthumously awarded with the Medal for Military Service.