YEREVAN. – Either official or informal structures of Azerbaijan have long adopted the tools of distortion, falsification, misinterpretation of facts and statements. The Azerbaijani media are not lagging behind by actively disseminating disinformation.

However, this time the representatives of the Azerbaijani media went too far, trying to present blatant misinformation as “facts”.

As reported earlier, the Azerbaijani troops deployed nearby Alkhanlu village, opened fire on positions of Karabakh Defense Army on July 4, including from TR-107 artillery rocket launcher. Karabakh side was forced to retaliate.   A 52-year-old Azerbaijani woman and a 2-year-old girl died in the ensuing exchange of fire.

The Karabakh party has repeatedly stated that responsibility for the consequences of provocations lies with the Azerbaijani authorities. Moreover, the military leadership in Azerbaijan places military facilities on the territory or in the immediate vicinity of villages, using the civilian population as a human shield. At the same time, the army does not allow the population to leave the villages, putting the population in an even worse situation.

After the July 4 events, the Azerbaijani side, in its hysterical tone, tried to present all the statements as direct accusations against Armenia. Azerbaijani media also published false reports.

First, Azerbaijani media referring to representative of the foreign ministry said personal representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk “starts an investigation”, later they said Ambassador Kasprzyk “visited the place where 2-year-old Zakhra and her grandmother died”.

The Armenian News-NEWS.am  correspondent sent a formal inquiry to the OSCE secretariat to clarify whether the above mentioned reports are true.

The official comment from the OSCE reads as follows: “Upon the request of the Azerbaijani side and following Ambassador Kasprzyk’s instructions, who was in Vienna briefing the Minsk Group, one field assistant from the Office of the Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office travelled to the village on 5 July while another field assistant simultaneously travelled to the opposite side, to the section of the Line of Contact affected by the incident. The Office does not have the mandate to investigate, but both field assistants were able to get acquainted with the situation on the spot.”

As seen from the answer, Ambassador Kasprzyk never visited Alkhanlu village as presented by Azerbaijani media. Moreover, the personal representative of the Chairperson-in-Office did not initiate an investigation, as the representative of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said. For information of Hikmet Hajiyev, it is the Azerbaijani side that refused to implement mechanisms for investigating the incidents. Unlike Baku, Yerevan and the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs insist on the introduction of appropriate mechanisms. This and similar incidents, and even more the reaction of the Azerbaijani side that is using the tragedy for the sake of aggravating anti-Armenian hysteria, clearly show that instigator of incidents is not interested in changing the situation.