On March 18, the units of Armenian Armed Forces fired on the positions of Azerbaijani Army situated in Gizilhajili village of Azerbaijan’s Gazakh region from the opposite posts situated in Berkaber village of Armenia’s Ijevan region at 22.30-22.35 and 23.05-23.10, as well as the positions of Azerbaijani Army situated in Gaymagli village of Azerbaijan’s Gazakh region from the opposite posts situated in Barekamavan village of Armenia’s Noyenberyan region between 22.00 and 22.10.

The status quo in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict cannot continue. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, who arrived in Armenia as part of his regional tour, made this statement today at a press conference in Yerevan, Armenia Today reported. According to Westerwelle, all the countries in the region will benefit from a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He stressed the importance of finding a compromise variant of the solution within the OSCE Minsk Group.

NATO has no intention or plans to participate in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, nor become involved in the peace process which now goes under the aegis of the Minsk Group, the special representative of the alliance in the South Caucasus and Central Asia, James Appathurai said in the interview, NATO Community.org website said. "There is concern over the Minsk process.

Permanent Representative of Azerbaijan to the UN Agshin Mehdiyev on March 5 sent a letter to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon about violation of ceasefire by Armenia. The letter was circulated as an official document of the General Assembly and the UN Security Council, permanent mission said Friday. The letter notes that as a result of ceasefire violations by Armenia's armed forces in December 2011 and January 2012 two Azerbaijani servicemen were killed and one civilian was wounded.

As a Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, the United States remains firmly committed to assisting the sides in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict reach a lasting and peaceful settlement, the U.S. State Department reported on its website. "There is no military solution to this conflict. We urge the sides to prepare their populations for peace, not war, and to refrain from any provocative rhetoric or actions on the ground," the U.S. State Department said.

“The settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict is not a simple process. Russia is continuing its mediation towards the resolution of the conflict. OSCE, which is engaged in the resolution of the conflict, UN, as well as Russia will continue efforts towards the peaceful resolution of the conflict. The main thing is to achieve peaceful resolution of the conflict,” chairperson of the Russian Federation Council Valentina Matvienko said at the briefing, APA’s Moscow correspondent reports.

Nagorno Karabakh is Azerbaijani and Turkish land occupied by Armenia. "Our only desire is to return our lands," Turkish Vice Premier Bekir Bozdag told journalists in Baku on Tuesday. He stressed that Turkey provides full support to Azerbaijan in the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, adding that the normalization of Armenian-Turkish ties depends on the resolution of the Karabakh problem.

“The Nagorno Karabakh conflict keeps the region in tense situation for years and Armenia, pursuing an aggressive policy, doesn’t want to establish peace in the region. The Iranian people also know what means occupation and war from their recent history. That’s why we believe that the Iranian government and people will deeply show its position for ending injustice against Azerbaijan and the liberation of Azerbaijani lands from the occupation”, said Defense Minister of Azerbaijan, Colonel-General Safar Abiyev at the press conference in Tehran, press service of the Defense Ministry told APA.

“We hope that the newly-elected president of Russia will increase the efforts towards the solution of the Nagorno Karabakh problem and make it more effective”, said the Head of the Public Policy Department of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan Ali Hasanov, APA reports. “If Russia doesn’t increase its efforts towards the solution to this conflict, no one of the international organizations, including OSCE, its Minsk Group, UN, can reach serious progress in this field, because Russia has a great influence on Armenia”, said the official.

Defense Ministry’s press service told APA that the enemy was silenced by retaliation fire.