Former Iranian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohsen Pak-A’een has said the Azerbaijan-Armenia clashes will continue as long as Azerbaijan’s seven cities remain occupied. “So long as Baku hasn’t liberated its seven cities, it sees itself entitled to their liberation and that’s why the Karabakh clashes will continue,” Pak-A’een said, IRNA reported on Tuesday. “In order to reach a truce that leads to permanent peace, we should see what measures should take place so that both countries, I mean the Republic of Azerbaijan and Armenia, feel satisfaction and think they have won,” the former diplomat commented. The breakaway of Nagorno-Karabakh has long been a source of conflict between Baku and Yerevan since the early years of the 1990s when the two sides fought a years-long war over the disputed region that led to the Armenian forces declaring independence from Azerbaijan and also occupying parts of Azerbaijan’s territories surrounding the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh. The two sides agreed to a ceasefire starting on Saturday to exchange prisoners and bodies of those killed in the conflict. However, each side has since accused the other of breaking the agreement. Armenia and Azerbaijan also accused each other of bombarding civilian areas ahead of the ceasefire.
TehranTimes
