Azerbaijan appeals to international community on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

BAKU, April 3, 2016 -- People attend the funeral of a villager who was killed in recent conflict with Armenia, in Azerbaijan's Terter district bordering the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, on April 3, 2016. Azerbaijan unilaterally suspended all military operations and response measures in the high-strung disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region with Armenia, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said on Sunday. (Xinhua/Tofik Babayev)

BAKU, April 3 -- Azerbaijan has appealed to the international community to demand withdrawal of Armenian troops from the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

Azerbaijan has also urged the international community to engage constructively in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement process in accordance with the requirements of relevant resolutions of the UNSC and the norms and principles of international law, the statement said.

At night of April 2, 2016, Armenian armed forces had launched a massive attack on civilians residing in the territories adjacent to the frontline area and opened intensive heavy weapons fire at the positions of Azerbaijan's armed forces along the line of contact, said the statement.

"The attack resulted in deaths and injuries of the Azeri civilians. Substantial damages were also inflicted upon the private and public properties," it said.

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry on Sunday declared to unilaterally suspend all military operations and response measures in the high-strung disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region with Armenia.

However, the Nagorno-Karabakh defense authorities said that heavy battles were still going on in the northeastern and southeastern directions, denying that the Azerbaijani side had implemented a real ceasefire along the contact line in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan on the contact line of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region have reportedly flared up overnight Saturday with the two countries' defense ministries blaming each other for triggering the escalation.

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said 12 Azerbaijani soldiers have been killed in the fighting while the Armenian side confirmed that 18 soldiers died in the conflict.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a bitter dispute over the mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh first broke out in 1988, when the region claimed independence from Azerbaijan to join Armenia.

Peace talks have been held since 1994 when a ceasefire was reached, but there have been occasional minor clashes in the past along the borders and across the volatile frontline of the Karabakh area. The clashes obviously escalated last month.

On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the parties in the conflict to "observe an immediate ceasefire and exercise restraint in order to prevent further casualties," according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.