By Artak Khulian
YEREVAN (Azatutyun) — Armenia’s Defense Ministry downplayed on Tuesday, March 25, the significance of cross-border gunfire from Azerbaijan reported by residents of some Armenian border villages.
Throughout last week, the Azerbaijani military accused Armenian forces of violating the ceasefire at various sections of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. The accusations strongly denied by Yerevan followed official announcements that the two sides have essentially finalized a bilateral peace treaty after years of negotiation. Armenian commentators suggested that Baku may thus be preparing the ground for military action against Armenia or trying to clinch more Armenian concessions.
Although Baku apparently stopped alleging Armenian ceasefire violations over the weekend, residents of two villages in the southeastern Syunik province, Khoznavar and Khnatsakh, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that there has been intense automatic gunfire from nearby Azerbaijani army positions in recent days.
“They opened fire at 10 o’clock last night, then at 2 and also at 4 in the morning,” said Roman Grigoryan, a Khoznavar farmer. “They also shot at us when we were working in the field yesterday. We stopped work for one or two hours.”
“There has been continuous shooting for the last five nights,” said Manushak Soghomonyan, a Khnatsakh resident. “They start at 10:20 p.m. [and keep shooting] until 5:30 a.m. Red [tracer] bullets are flying over the village. The people are scared.”
