On April 11, the shooting between the positions of the Armenian military units located in the direction of the Tegh of the Goris region and the opposite positions of the Azerbaijani Army located in the direction of the Lachin district turned into a battle of several hours, and both sides suffered losses. Armenian officials and media immediately made accusatory statements regarding the incident.
The main thesis in the opinions is that Azerbaijan invaded the territory of Armenia.
For example, the Twitter page of the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a statement decorated with accusatory sentences: "... we call to condemn the aggressive actions of Azerbaijan by making appropriate statements and taking clear measures, as well as to prevent further escalation of the situation by Azerbaijan." Edmon Marukyan, ambassador-at-large, believes that Azerbaijan continues its unjustified aggression against Armenia in the face of harsh condemnation by the international community. "This is happening because Azerbaijan, as an aggressor state, was not subject to sanctions and was not properly judged by the international community," Marukyan said. ANCA (Armenian National Committee of America) employee Alex Galitsky says "The fact that Azerbaijan attacked and advanced on the sovereign territory of Armenia at a time when the EU mission was supposedly monitoring the border..."
The statement of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs is especially "attention-grabbing". The French ministry says that it is worried about the incident and adds that "... respecting the territorial integrity of Armenia and withdrawing the contact line of the Azerbaijani army from the occupied positions on the Armenian side is extremely important to prevent future incidents and to protect the foundations of lasting peace in the region."
So Faktyoxla Lab. checked these claims of the Armenian media and their international partners with reference to open sources. Did the events really happen within the borders of Armenia?
On the day of the incident, the Armenian press and active social media channels spread conflicting information about the provocation on the conditional border in the direction of Lachin. The first report spread by the Armenians contained the information that the commander of the special-purpose corps of the Armenian army, Armen Gozalyan, negotiated with the Azerbaijani military, after which the shooting began. According to their claim, at that time Azerbaijani soldiers fired at Armenian soldiers who had come for negotiations. As a result, a shootout took place, people were killed and injured, Gozalyan was also injured.
A little later, the Armenians wrote that Azerbaijani soldiers came to the area where engineering and fortification works were being carried out on the conventional border and opened fire. The fact that two pieces of information disseminated by the same source contradict each other shows that the Armenian media is engaged in spreading lies. The goal is to shift responsibility for the provocation. The spread of such conflicting information shows that the provocation was committed by Armenia, and that Azerbaijani Army responded adequately to it.
It is clear that the first footage of the incident is in the video released by the Ministry of Defense of Armenia. It was possible to get a complete picture of the area where the incident took place from the video of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia. First of all, let's say that the idea that the video was shot by a drone is refuted by experts due to the filming (it is clear that it was shot with a camera with a large zoom capability) and the errors that occurred (it is known that a live person is sitting behind the remote control).
According to the explanation of the AZ_Land_Of_Fire telegram channel regarding the shooting, 4 posts belonging to the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan attract attention in the screenshots. There is one Armenian post is visible. The excavator seen on the footage and the position next to that excavator belong to Armenians.
According to the conclusion of military journalist Fardin Isazade, in this incident, the fact that Armenians placed their posts between 4 Azerbaijani posts can be perceived as an inciting fragment.
Based on the images in the footagez, it can be said that the trench of the Armenians was not built recently, and they had been working there for several days, if it is possible to say "work". So, on April 1, in a video released by the Armenians, it was revealed that they were digging a trench in front of the last post of the Azerbaijani Army near the conventional border. The footage shows both the excavator and the work being done.
It can be seen from the video that the car with soldiers on it moves away from the post on the upper side, reaches the 2nd post on the right, stops for a moment near it, and then continues on its way. While the car, which is supposed to contain Azerbaijani soldiers, is going straight on its way, it unexpectedly stops next to the excavator and waits for a few seconds (it is possible that the Armenian military swears, insults, provokes Azerbaijani soldiers in order to incite them, or uses the presence of their high-ranking officers to call them for talks) and the Azerbaijanis get out of the car and approach the Armenian soldiers.
According to the initial version, the Azerbaijani soldiers approaching the Armenian trench asked the Armenians not to conduct the work so close, and to retreat a little. Of course, the Armenian provocation plan was launched and the argument started, the rest is known.
There is a very important point in that video presented by the Armenians. In that footage, in the area where the dispute is taking place, it is possible to see that an Armenian soldier, who is behind the camera, shoots from his hiding position. It can be noticed if we zoom the video. It's a small detail, but a very important one. This detail confirms the fact that the Armenians opened fire first.
In the second video released by Armenians yesterday, a police post can be seen in the village of Tegh. Armenians did not spread this video just so. They released it to create the impression that the gunshot sounds came from close, as if right next to the village at the coordinates 39°33'52.44"N 46°29'22.93"E.
However, it is possible to determine that the shooting took place at a distance of 2-2.2 km from the echo of the Kalashnikov rifle. The distance from the mentioned point to the conventional border with Azerbaijan was 2100-2200 meters. In other words, the shooting is definitely not going on nearby, more precisely, in the village of Tegh.
Where are the Azerbaijani soldiers stationed?
According to the information published a week ago, it was determined that the incident took place in the area indicated below.
Here, the conventional border line between Azerbaijan and Armenia is marked in yellow, the old Lachin-Goris road in blue, and the new road in orange.
This was also confirmed by Armenian officials. After the verbal dispute that happened a week ago, the National Security Service of Armenia made it clear that the units of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan did not cross into the territory belonging to Armenia. Reference
It can be seen in the video and photos that all work related to the construction of fortifications and posts is carried out by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces on the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan. The coordinates of that area are: 39°35'0.62"N 46°29'46.60"E (Direction: Northeast)
When you move these mentioned objects onto the map, you get this picture:
So, it is once again confirmed that the construction and reinforcement works are being carried out on the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan. The latest statement of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia to the media confirmed this fact.
Now let's pay attention to other small details.
- Another video taken by the Armenians confirms that they used mortars in the shooting. If you look carefully at the footage, you can see the moment when a mortar shell fell near the trench built by Azerbaijani soldiers on the territory of Azerbaijan.
The "operator" who shot this video was standing at these coordinates in the village of Tegh.
- After the events, a fake map of the area where the incident took place was spread in the Armenian and Persian-mullah regime’s media.
In this map spread on social media, Armenians and the media of the Persian-Mullah regime show that the Azerbaijani Armed Forces occupied the territories belonging to Armenia after the events of April 11. The conditional boundary line can be seen with a difference of 3-4 meters on Google Maps. But it cannot be as wrong as this map spread by Armenians. If we believe this map, it turns out that on April 11, Azerbaijani soldiers destroyed or captured 4 Armenian posts, 1 support point and 1 checkpoint. This is not confirmed by the available images and geolocation indicators.
Thus,
♦ On April 11, the shooting between the positions of the Armenian military units located in the direction of the Tegh village of the Goris region and the opposite positions of the Azerbaijani Army located in the direction of the Lachin district began as a result of the fire opened by the Armenian soldiers.
♦ Azerbaijani soldiers did not go beyond the sovereign territories of Azerbaijan, this was also confirmed by the Ministry of Defense of Armenia and the State Security Service of Armenia.
♦ Armenian MFA, Ambassador-at-large Edmon Marukyan, Italian-born journalist of CivilNet news website Emilio Cricchio, ANCA (Armenian National Committee of America) employee Alex Galitsky, American journalist Lindsay Snell, French MFA and BBC voiced false accusation. They should correct their statements and apologize.
♦ The Armenian military again shelled Azerbaijani territories by using mortars and large-caliber automatic and machine guns.
