By Dmitri Chirciu
YEREVAN (AA) – Amid its attacks on Azerbaijani civilian settlements and border violations, Armenia on Sunday declared martial law and a general mobilization due to the situation in occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, according to the country’s prime minister.
“At the decision of the Government, martial law and general mobilization is being declared in the Republic of Armenia. I call on the personnel attached to the troops to present themselves to their district commissariats,” Nikol Pashinyan said on Twitter.
Pashinyan also convened a meeting of the country’s security council.
On Twitter, Shushan Stepanyan, spokesperson for Armenia's Defense Ministry, also said clashes with Azerbaijan continue in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Stepanyan claimed that Armenian forces had destroyed four Azerbaijani helicopters as well as some 15 unmanned aerial vehicles (including attack drones), 10 tanks, and infantry fighting vehicles.
Urging the people of Karabakh to retreat to shelters, she claimed that Azerbaijan’s military and political leaders bear full responsibility for the situation.
Border clashes broke out on Sunday after Armenian forces targeted Azerbaijani civilian settlements and military positions. The number of casualties is not yet known.
This July, Armenian cease-fire violations martyred 12 Azerbaijani troops and wounded four others.
Relations between the two former Soviet nations have been tense since 1991, when Armenian military illegally occupied Upper Karabakh, or Nagorno-Karabakh, an internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan.
Four UN Security Council and two UN General Assembly resolutions as well as decisions by many international organizations refer to this fact and demand the withdrawal of Armenia’s occupying forces from Upper Karabakh and seven other occupied regions of Azerbaijan.
