Armenia reserves the right to preemptive strikes- president

YEREVAN, January 26. / ARKA /. Speaking today at a meeting of army brass, devoted to the 23rd anniversary of Armenian armed forces, president Serzh Sargsyan said Armenia reserves the right to pre-emptive strikes in case of ‘dangerous amassment of Azerbaijan troops along the line of contact in Nagorno-Karabakh or Armenia’s border.’

"We have no reason to wage a war, we do not provoke clashes and we never show aggression, we do not need it, however, we retaliate and will retaliate to all provocations of the Azerbaijani side,“ Sargsyan said.

He said until recently the response of the Armenian side was symmetrical in form and asymmetrical in terms of casualties. 

"We have witnessed a lot of aggressive actions of the enemy this year. We sustained painful losses for which we grieve. I think no one doubts that Azerbaijan will pay dearly for the life of each of our guys.

They paid dearly, and will pay dearly in the future,“ said the president.

He said the purpose of the aggressive actions of the enemy is to create a constant tension around us by the combination of political and military means. 

"This policy is a simple blackmail, designed for the international community rather than Armenia,” said Sargsyan.

According to him, Azerbaijani authorities are ready to send to death hundreds and hundreds of their citizens to only keep their posts, "but we can not allow this to happen at the expense of the lives of our citizens and our soldiers. This can not be done at our expense.”

“We are convinced that the right way is to negotiate and to continue negotiations to reach an agreement on the basis of known principles, and this is possible only in conditions of maintaining the cease-fire and building bridges of trust," said the president. 

"I once again declare publicly- we are ready for the good and for the bad. On my desk there are all possible scenarios. We can and must negotiate peace with sober-minded partners, but if we are to deal with not sober-minded enemy we must compel him to peace and will do it," said Sargsyan.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict erupted into armed clashes after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s as the predominantly Armenian-populated enclave of Azerbaijan, sought to secede from Azerbaijan and declared its independence backed by succeeding referendum. A truce was brokered by Russia in 1994, although no permanent peace agreement has been signed.

Since then, Nagorno-Karabakh and several adjacent regions have been under the control of Armenian forces of Karabakh. Nagorno-Karabakh is the longest-running post-Soviet era conflict and has continued to simmer despite the relative peace of the past two decades, with snipers causing tens of deaths a year. -0-