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Azerbaijan escalates the situation on the border so as to damage various sectors of the Armenian economy, including tourism, and also to instill fear in residents of border areas, especially during a harvest season, Armenian Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan told reporters today.

“We should use our entire potential, capacities of Armenian organizations created by the Diaspora, activists from various countries to influence the authorities of their countries,” H. Hakobyan said stressing the need to exert influence on Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev from outside.

The minister recalled that in September 2014 representatives of Armenian organizations from various countries discussed priority tasks, including the settlement of the Karabakh problem.

“It is the problem of not only Armenia, but also the whole Armenian people. In case of growing border tensions, we appeal to our Diaspora Armenian organizations. They try to attract the attention of authorities of other countries to the problem by staging protests or by other means,” she said.

“Aliyev constantly seeks an opportunity to cause harm to Armenia, but we give a fitting rebuff, and our army’s morale is so high that we should not doubt its ability to deliver a counter-blow,” Hranush Hakobyan stressed.

She said that Armenia, unlike Azerbaijan, honors its obligations. “Our republic wants to find a solution to the problem in the framework of the OSCE Group, and not by means chosen by Aliyev,” she added.

As was reported, two female residents of Berdavan village in Tavush province of Armenia were killed as a result of Azerbaijani shooting on September 24. A spokesman for the Armenian police, Ashot Aharonyan, confirmed this information when contacted by the correspondent of Panorama.am. Prior to that, information was received that an elderly woman who was a resident of Paravakar village in Armenia’s Tavush province, was also killed by Azerbaijani gunfire. Aharonyan specified that the woman killed by gunfire was Paytsar Aghajanyan, 83. “To stabilize the situation in the border zone and deter the enemy, the Armenian armed forces will take proportionate actions, the full responsibility for which will be borne by Azerbaijan’s military and political leadership,” the press service of Armenian Defense Ministry said yesterday.