After Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Friday blasted the United States and the European Union for holding high-level talks with Armenia, Azerbaijani forces opened fire at Armenian positions in Tavush and Gegharkunik provinces.
Just as Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan concluded a meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels, where more assistance was pledged by the American and European leaders, Azerbaijani forces opened fire at positions in Tavush’s Chinari village and Ghegharkunik’s Verin Shorzha region.
Armenia’s defense ministry reported that the attack on Armenian positions in Tavush took place around 5:15 p.m. local time, while at 5:30 p.m. local time, a similar attack was reported in Gegharkunik.
At around 5:25 p.m. local time, the Azerbaijani defense ministry issued a statement alleging that Armenian soldiers had opened fire at Azerbaijani positions. Armenia’s defense ministry called the statement disinformation.
Earlier on Friday, Aliyev, while meeting with former Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Baku, denounced the U.S.-EU-Armenia meeting in Brussels, saying that the talks were “directed against Azerbaijan.”
“Although high-ranking U.S. and EU officials tried to convince us during telephone conversations initiated by them in recent days that this meeting is not directed against us, we know that it is against Azerbaijan, against cooperation in the South Caucasus,” Aliyev said. “It aims to create dividing lines and isolate Azerbaijan.”
This was not the first time Baku had denounced the meeting. The Azerbaijani foreign ministry accused the U.S. and the EU of destabilizing the region. Blinken and von der Leyen spoke separately with Aliyev this week to convey that the meeting was to address assistance to Armenia and would not focus on the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace talks.
Despite these assurances, Baku blasted the meeting.
“We never felt it was our business to convince Azerbaijan about the conference,” James O’Brien, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia, said, commenting on Aliyev’s claims. “We have been very clear about what we intended to do. We have done exactly as we said.”
“We are supporting the choices that the Armenian people have made and will continue to do that in a way that promotes peace and security and prosperity of the region as a whole,” O’Brien told Armenian journalists.