ISTANBUL

Azerbaijan on Monday condemned Armenian gunfire on its military positions in the Zangilan region of Karabakh, which it said injured one its servicemen.

The Foreign Ministry in a statement demanded Yerevan to abandon its “military provocation" and its "increasingly aggressive rhetoric," and stop taking steps that increase tensions in the region.

“Armenia should stop abusing the presence of the European Union civilian monitoring mission in its territories,” the statement said, referring to the 27-member bloc's mission launched last month.

“The political and military leadership of Armenia bears full responsibility for the provocations against the peace-building measures carried out by Azerbaijan in the region,” the statement added.

A Russia-brokered truce between Azerbaijan and Armenia has been in force since a 2020 war that forced Yerevan to cede territories it had occupied for nearly three decades. Since then, a process to normalize ties between the two neighbors is ongoing. Tensions, however, have flared up in recent weeks.