Azerbaijan frees 7 villages from Armenian occupation

The Azerbaijani army liberated seven border villages from Armenian occupation, the country's Defense Ministry said on Sunday.

Speaking to reporters in Baku, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lt. Col. Anar Eyvazov said the Karahanbeyli, Gervend, Koy Gerediz, Upper Abdurrahmanli villages of the Fuzuli region, and Buyuk Mercanli and Nuzgar villages of Jabrayil region, which had been occupied by Armenian forces for many years, were now under the control of the Azerbaijani army.

Noting that the Azerbaijani Armed Forces also took under control of some strategic peaks in Agdere and Murovdag highlands, Eyvazov said the operation is ongoing to liberate other settlements as well.

Meanwhile, the Azerbaijan Security Council convened under the chairmanship of President Ilham Aliyev.

Border clashes broke out earlier in the day when Armenian forces targeted Azerbaijani civilian settlements and military positions, causing casualties.

Ankara has strongly condemned the attack, and reiterated its full support to Baku.

This July, Armenian cease-fire violations martyred 12 Azerbaijani troops and wounded four others. One elderly civilian was also martyred.

On Sept. 21, clashes in the same region flared up again when a soldier of the Azerbaijani army was martyred and another injured.

Since 1991, the Armenian military has illegally occupied the Upper Karabakh, or Nagorno-Karabakh region, 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 the occupational Armenian forces from Upper Karabakh and seven other occupied regions of Azerbaijan.

The OSCE Minsk Group -- co-chaired by France, Russia and the US -- was formed in 1992 to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, but to no avail.