REPORTED CEASEFIRE VIOLATION ON THE

S E C R E T BAKU 000188 SIPDIS SIPDIS NOFORN FOR EUR/CARC E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/04/2018 TAGS: PREL PGOV PBTS PHUM AM AJ SUBJECT: REPORTED CEASEFIRE VIOLATION ON THE NAGORNO-KARABAKH LINE OF CONTACT REF: A. PENNINGTON/LU EMAIL 3/4/08 ¶B. BAKU 00147 Classified By: DCM Donald Lu for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) The Embassy reached out to GOAJ contacts to hear their perspective on a reported truce violation on the Line of Contact near the Terter district. According to Embassy Yerevan, Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian phoned the Charge d,Affaires this morning to inform him that the Azerbaijanis had launched a "very serious attack" on the Line of Contact on the morning of March 4 (ref a). OSCE Special Representative of the Chairman-in-Office Andrje Kasprzyk who also received this same message from Oskanian, phoned Ambassador Derse this morning to inform her of the reports. Azerbaijani press picked up the story on the afternoon of March 4, noting that two Azerbaijani soldiers were killed. ¶2. (C) During EUR DAS Matt Bryza and the Ambassador's March 4 lunch with Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov, Mammadyarov said the Armenians had started this "provocation" by shooting at the Azerbaijani side and the Armenians had killed two Azerbaijani soldiers and two Azerbaijani civilians. Mammadyarov noted that the GOAJ had been expected such a "provocation" if events surrounding the Armenian Presidential election were moving in the wrong direction (ref b). Bryza noted that if the Azerbaijani side had in fact occupied new territory near Terter, this would be a serious point of concern. ¶3. (C) In a meeting late on March 4 with Bryza and the Ambassador, Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense Safar Abiyev said that Azerbaijan has not launched an attack on Armenian positions and no territory had been seized. According to Abiyev, two Azerbaijani soldiers went forward seven meters to investigate the deaths of some Azerbaijani civilians. Abiyev said the Azerbaijani soldiers then returned to their position. Abiyev separately stressed to Kasprzyk that contrary to Armenian claims, the Azerbaijani side has not occupied any new territory. Abiyev also claimed that the Azerbaijani side has stopped shooting, but the Armenians are continuing to shoot. Separately, the Armenian MOD and National Security Services provided details of the incident to Embassy Yerevan, with the Armenian MOD reporting a company-size Azerbaijani attack with two Azerbaijanis dead, and the Armenian NSS reporting a platoon-sized attacking force, and four victims. ¶4. (S/NF) Presidential Foreign Policy Advisor Novruz Mammadov confirmed to the DCM that two Azerbaijani soldiers were killed near Terter, but he noted that he had not been following the issue very closely. DATT informed MOD Chief of International Military Cooperation General-Major Ramiz Najafov of the OSCE's reports of cease-fire violations along the Line of Contact and requested GOAJ confirmation of events along the Line of Contact. Najafov thanked DATT for the information and promised to be in touch as soon as he had any information. GRPO also raised the reported incident with the MNS, but the MNS representative said he had no information on the event. ¶5. (C) Bryza and the Ambassador finished their meeting with MinDef Abiyev at 1900 local time; we will report further details from that meeting septel. We continue to monitor the situation. ¶6. (U) Embassy Yerevan has cleared this cable. DERSE