On 14 July, an Armenian serviceman was killed and an Azerbaijani soldier was wounded in a shootout between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops near the Yeraskh section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

According to the Armenian Ministry of Defence (MOD), Azerbaijani military personnel tried to carry out border fortification activity using engineering equipment in order to advance their combat positions. It said after the Armenian side’s counteractions to suppress this activity, the Azerbaijani servicemen opened fire in the direction of the Armenian positions. As a result of the shootout, a soldier of the Armenian Armed Forces received a fatal gunshot wound. 

Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defence, for its part, accused the Armenian armed forces of firing at the Azerbaijani military positions in the territory of Nakhichevan, because of which one Azerbaijani serviceman was wounded. The Azerbaijani side said that the situation in the mentioned direction was stabilised after Azerbaijani forces returned fire. A day later, the Azerbaijani MOD also reported a shootout in the vicinity of the city of Shusha. The Russian MOD also issued a statement, saying that in general the ceasefire regime was observed, but confirming that shootings were reported in the vicinity of Shusha. 

The foreign ministries of Armenia and Azerbaijan also issued statements, exchanging blame for the incident. Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused Azerbaijan of “trying to create new sources of tensions and undermining regional peace and security.” Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for its part, condemned “attempts of the Armenian side to disturb fragile peace in the region by means of regular shootings at Azerbaijani positions.” 

The heads of state of the two countries, Armenia’s acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, also came with their statements regarding the current state of relations. Aliyev reiterated Azerbaijan’s willingness to sign a peace treaty with Armenia. “In other words, we are ready to start this work. However, no official reaction from Armenia has come so far. Unofficial sources say that Armenia is not ready for a peace treaty. I think that would be a big mistake. Just as the Armenian side made big mistakes when committing war crimes on the eve and during the war,” he said, adding that Armenia should think carefully about consequences of not signing a peace treaty. 

He also said that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has already been settled. “Nevertheless, we are ready and should be ready for war at any time,” Aliyev added. He also stressed that there was no territorial unit called Nagorno-Karabakh on the territory of Azerbaijan, only Karabakh, adding that the Karabakh economic zone has already been established. Aliyev also spoke on the creation of the East Zangezur economic zone, stressing that Azerbaijanis would return to the homeland of their ancestors in Zangezur. “Now Armenia is in hysterics in connection with this issue. There is no need for this, Eastern Zangezur is our historical land, Western Zangezur is our historical land. We cannot forget history; we cannot turn it into a hostage of someone's political interests. Let them open historical documents, maps, look at when the Soviet government separated Zangezur from Azerbaijan and handed it over to Armenia,” he stated.  

Pashinyan responded to Aliyev’s statements, saying that the Azerbaijani President was trying to create an impression that Armenia opposes peace and the peace treaty. “Whereas Armenia has already publicly welcomed the April 13 statement of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs which in particular says, I quote ‘having in mind the terms of their OSCE mandate and the aspirations of all the people of the region for a stable, peaceful, and prosperous future, the Co-Chairs stress that special attention should be paid to the achievement of a final comprehensive and sustainable settlement on the basis of the elements and principles well-known to the sides. In this respect, the Co-Chairs call on the parties to resume high-level political dialogue under the auspices of the Co-Chairs at the earliest opportunity.’ They reiterate their proposal to organise direct bilateral consultations under their auspices, in order for the sides to review and agree jointly upon a structured agenda, reflecting their priorities, without preconditions,” he said. Pashinyan recalled the three principles well-known to the parties mentioned in the statement, which underpin the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, self-determination of peoples, preventions of the use of force or threat of force, and territorial integrity.

He also stated that the Russia-Armenia-Azerbaijan deputy prime ministerial working group carries out constructive and productive work for unblocking the regional communications. Pashinyan also said that Azerbaijan’s statements about the so-called “Zangezur corridor” have no connection with the work of this group and the content of the 11 January trilateral statement signed in Moscow. He noted that the reality is quite the contrary because it is Azerbaijan that opposes the demarcation and delimitation works because it has brought fake maps, trying to justify the presence of its troops in several parts of Armenia’s sovereign territory. Pashinyan said Armenia will defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity with all possible means, including with the use of the Armenian-Russian joints troops and the CSTO mechanisms.

A statement in that regard was also made by Pashinyan’s Deputy Tigran Avinyan, who said that the withdrawal of Azerbaijan’s troops from sovereign Armenian territory must be on top of the agenda of negotiations between the two South Caucasus nations. “Sooner or later, one day the delimitation and demarcation of our borders with all neighbours must take place, but so to speak, grossly violating our borders and being located inside our borders, even trying to blackmail us into some action is not an efficient way, it cannot give any result. Such an approach and method of blackmail cannot be acceptable to the authorities of the Republic of Armenia and the people of the Republic of Armenia,” he said. Aviniyan also said that here would not be peace agreement between the two countries until the status of Karabakh was solved.

The spokesperson of Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Leyla Abdulayeva responded to this statement, saying that Avinyan had forgotten that the election campaign in Armenia was over and that the time has come for “real things” and not “populism.” “In general, the statements of Armenian officials, which are incompatible with the new reality in the region and try to condition the peace with any baseless issues, are primarily against this country itself. The best way to achieve peace, security and progress in the region is normalisation of relations, [on] its foundation stands respect and adherence to principles of international law. It is a position that Azerbaijan has always demonstrated,” she said.