The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Azerbaijan has issued a statement, simultaneously accusing the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and trying to spread disinformation about another act of Azerbaijani military aggression against Armenia.

“The statement of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs on April 12, supporting Armenia in connection with the provocation of the Armenian side on April 11 against our positions located in the direction of Lachin region, does not reflect reality.

“France, which did not judge Armenia's aggression and occupation policy while acting as a mediator in the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict for nearly 25 years, did not try to resolve the conflict, and carried out a smear campaign against our country after Azerbaijan ended the occupation and resolved the conflict on its own, has once again demonstrated an unfair position with this statement.

“The statement on importance of unilateral respect to the territorial integrity of Armenia by France, which hasn’t called on Armenia to respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan, and hasn’t demanded Armenia to withdraw the Armenian armed forces from the territories of Azerbaijan in accordance with the Trilateral statement and the outcome of the Prague meeting attended by the French President, is an example of bias of France against our country.

“We call on the French side to refrain from such statements that incite Armenia to further provocations and support revanchist forces,” noted the statement of the Azerbaijan MFA.

At around 4pm on Tuesday, a group of Azerbaijani soldiers approached—under the pretext of adjusting the deployment sites—the Armenian servicemen carrying out engineering work in the vicinity of Tegh village of Armenia’s Syunik Province, provoked them, opened gun fire, then fired—with weapons of various calibers—at these Armenian soldiers. And as a result of the ensuing exchange of fire, the Armenian side has four casualties and six wounded. There are casualties and wounded on the Azerbaijani side, too.