Phone call between the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and President Ilham Aliyev

On September 19, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a phone call to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. During the phone call, the head of state highlighted that the intelligence-sabotage groups of the Armenian armed forces in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan deployed mines in advance for the purpose of terrorism, as a result of which civilians and police officers were killed, as well as Azerbaijani military units had come under fire from mortars and small arms of various calibers.

President Ilham Aliyev emphasized that these actions, including the so-called “presidential elections” held on September 9 by the self-declared separatist regime, were part of a deliberate pattern of provocations against Azerbaijan’s sovereignty by Armenia and the separatist entity it created and supports. The President of Azerbaijan stated that in order to prevent such provocative actions, Azerbaijan was obliged to start local counter-terrorism measures in the region, as well as during the implementation of counter-terrorism measures, civilian population and infrastructure objects were not targeted, only legitimate military targets were neutralized.