Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry (MoD) has escalated its disinformation campaign, spreading three false claims today, on March 16, alleging that Armenian Armed Forces opened fire on Azerbaijani positions along the southeastern border—claims that Armenia’s Defense Ministry has categorically denied as entirely false.
Azerbaijan’s MoD claims the alleged incidents occurred on March 16 at 9:45 a.m., 6:35 p.m., and between 8:10-8:45 p.m. However, Armenia’s MoD has categorically rejected these accusations, stating they do not correspond to reality.
Azerbaijan has repeatedly used disinformation to lay the groundwork for a false narrative, creating a pretext for potential aggression against Armenia by fabricating claims of ceasefire violations to justify its actions.
To note, the Office of the Prime Minister of Armenia has proposed the establishment of a joint Armenia-Azerbaijan mechanism for investigating ceasefire violations and related incidents. However, Azerbaijan has yet to respond to this initiative.
Just three days ago, on March 13, as previously reported, Armenia’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that peace treaty negotiations with Azerbaijan had been finalized. Armenia had formally accepted Azerbaijan’s proposals on the two outstanding articles of the draft Agreement on the Establishment of Peace and Interstate Relations and proposed issuing a joint statement to confirm the completion of negotiations. However, Baku chose to issue a unilateral statement instead. Armenia also announced its readiness to sign the agreement and begin consultations with Azerbaijan on the date and location for the signing.
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov publicly acknowledged the finalization of the treaty, stating that the remaining issues had been resolved and that the agreement was ready.
Given this, today’s false accusations by Azerbaijan’s MoD directly contradict the peace process and raise questions about Baku’s intentions just days after both sides finalized negotiations.
