BAKU (Sputnik) — On Saturday, Armenia and Azerbaijan noted a sharp escalation of the situation in the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh area, with both sides accusing each other of violating the ceasefire that has been in place since 1994.
"Striving for peace and taking into account the calls of international organizations, Azerbaijan has made a decision to unilaterally stop retaliatory military operations and will seek to strengthen the recently liberated territories," Vagif Dyargahly told RIA Novosti.
Earlier on Sunday, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry announced the shelling from the Armenian side across the line of contact during the night.
The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh began in 1988, when the Armenian-dominated autonomous region sought to secede from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, before proclaiming independence after the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991. In September 2015, the conflict escalated, with the sides blaming each other for violating the truce.
