Azerbaijan warned that Armenia's "provocative" joint military exercises indicate that Yerevan is planning another war with Baku.
"The military exercises conducted by the United States in Armenia, the provision of lethal weapons to Armenia by France, and the initial phase of military aid in amount of to ten million euros provided to Armenia by the European Union under the European Peace Facility encourage the occupying state - Armenia to carry out such provocations and indicate its preparation for another war against Azerbaijan,” said an Azerbaijani Defense Ministry statement.
The statement came soon after the ministry reported to have downed an Armenian quadcopter carrying out reconnaissance flights over the Azerbaijani military positions in the country’s northwestern Tovuz region earlier in the day.
Earlier this week, the ministry also said that its units in the country’s western Kalbajar region were fired upon by Armenian forces.
Indicating that such "provocative actions” are not the first and have become systematic on the part of Armenia, the statement warned Yerevan and its "supporters” to refrain from creating a new conflict zone in the South Caucasus region.
"If these provocative actions against our country are not stopped, the Armed Forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan will take necessary response measures using all means at their disposal for the purposes of self-defense,” it added.
Relations between Baku and Yerevan have remained tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.
Most of the territory was liberated by Azerbaijan during a 44-day war in the fall of 2020, which ended after a Russian-brokered peace agreement that opened the door to normalization and talks on border demarcation.
Last September, Azerbaijan established full sovereignty in Karabakh following an "anti-terrorist operation" in September last year, after which separatist forces in the region surrendered.
