On 19 September, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev in an interview with local TV channels made a number of statements about the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, indicating the growing threat of war and the futility of negotiations with Armenia. 

Aliyev stressed that Azerbaijan can transfer military operations to Armenian territory if a serious provocation is committed against Azerbaijan. “It's not a secret for anyone that the July provocation was launched by Armenia, and this was acknowledged by a high-ranking representative of one of the Minsk Group co-chairing countries [meaning Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov].  We have no military targets on the territory of Armenia. If we wanted to, we could go to the territory of Armenia, and we had all the military capabilities for this. But we did not do this, because this is not in our military-political concept, unless a serious provocation is committed against us. If it is done, then there will be no restrictions for us, let everyone know this. There will be no restrictions. If they ignore international law, then why should we observe it, we will also ignore it, but it will all end badly for them,” Aliyev stated. 

Speaking on the current state of affairs between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Aliyev stressed that Armenia in his opinion withdrew from the negotiations. “The absurd thoughts of the Armenian Prime Minister [Nikol Pashinyan] dealt a serious blow to the negotiation process. By declaring that ‘Karabakh is Armenia,’ he made the negotiation process meaningless,” he said. Aliyev also added that the Armenian authorities were also trying to make territorial claims against Turkey as well, by trying to revive the Treaty of Sevres.

Armenia’s Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Defence Minister Davit Tonoyan responded to Aliyev’s statements. “I do not want to comment on that statement, which was very emotional,“ was Mnatsaknyan’s short reply. However, Tonoyan gave a more elaborate answer. “Well, if he does not negotiate, negotiations do not exist for him [Aliyev]. Well, he will not blame himself. In fact, he has to blame himself, [but] he blames the Armenian side,” he said. “Do not worry. We are strong, resilient, and we will only have victories. I wish our people strength and resilience to overcome all the trials that are possible. I am confident that our people will only achieve victories because what we wish is righteous,” Tonoyan stated in front of Armenia’s media. And regarding his remark in the National Assembly that he was going to retaliate against Azerbaijan and whether he had already done that, Tonoyan responded by saying that “everything in its time” would happen.

Two days later, on 21 September, Azerbaijan’s Defence Ministry reported the death of Junior Sergeant Elshan Mammadov, who was killed in the Tovuz region on the Armenia-Azerbaijan state border. In addition, the ministry emphasised that the situation on the line of contact between the two countries’ troops and in the direction of the state border with Armenia is increasingly aggravated by Armenia. “Recently, there has been an increase in cases of gross violations of the ceasefire by the units of the armed forces of Armenia, regular shelling of our public settlements, civilians, and infrastructure near the line of contact, the use of larger-calibre weapons, reconnaissance-sabotage activities against the positions of our units as well as the widespread use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) have led to a serious aggravation of the situation on the frontline,” the statement reads.

Azerbaijan's MOD reminded that on 20 September Azerbaijan's Air Defence Units destroyed a tactical unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) owned by Armenian armed forces, which was the ninth UAV belonging to Armenian army units that have been downed in Azerbaijani territories after attempting to carry out a reconnaissance flight over the positions of the Azerbaijani Army's units since 16 July. A few hours later, Azerbaijan’s MOD reported that another Azerbaijani soldier was wounded in the Tovuz region. 

Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also made a statement in regard to the recent developments in the region. The Azerbaijani MFA spokesperson Leyla Abdullayeva said that Armenia’s leadership’s irresponsible and provocative behaviour fuels the tension in the region and nullifies the peace negotiations around the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The only reply from Armenia was from the spokesperson of the country’s MOD Shushan Stepanyan, saying that the ministry had no information in regard to the deaths of Azerbaijan’s servicemen. “We have stated many times that the absence of mechanisms on reducing the risks on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border is unacceptable and promotes the escalation. As to the victim, we do not have such information,” she said.