The illegal presence of Armenian armed forces in Karabakh was a serious problem for regional peace and security.

Axar.az reports that Hikmet Hajiyev, assistant to the President of Azerbaijan - Head of the Foreign Policy Department of the Presidential Administration, said this in an interview with "BBS News".

"Azerbaijan has always said that the presence of illegal military units on the territory of Azerbaijan continues to create great problems for ensuring regional peace and security. "However, despite this, Armenia has refused to implement the commitment of the tripartite statement signed on November 10, 2020, that "armed Armenian units should be removed from the territory of Azerbaijan," he stressed.

H. Hajiyev drew attention to Armenia's continued military buildup and noted that against this background, Azerbaijan was forced to take local anti-terrorist measures:

"Armenia continues its military construction on the territory of Azerbaijan, and we are talking about the presence of 10,000 soldiers on the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan. In addition, there are 100 tank elements, 200 artillery pieces and rockets. Azerbaijan has repeatedly called on them, but unfortunately, they have not paid attention to Azerbaijan's calls. Therefore, he was forced to take local anti-terrorist measures on the territory of Azerbaijan. There was no other choice. This measure was local and limited in nature. We are not talking about a large-scale military operation at all."

The presidential assistant also said that Azerbaijan never targeted civilians:

"However, Azerbaijani civilians and police officers became victims of mines planted by subversive groups of illegal military units in the Karabakh region of Armenia."