Former defense minister warns of potential Azerbaijani aggression
30.03.2010,
23:46
Samvel Babayan, a former defense minister of Nagorno-Karabakh, warned today of a potential military aggression on part of Azerbaijan saying Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh must focus their efforts on building powerful states in order to rebuff Azerbaijan’s ‘
YEREVAN, March 30, /ARKA/. Samvel Babayan, a former defense minister of Nagorno-Karabakh, warned today of a potential military aggression on part of Azerbaijan saying Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh must focus their efforts on building powerful states in order to rebuff Azerbaijan’s ‘impudence’. Speaking at a news conference Samvel Babayan said no political solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is likely in the next several years.
‘To all appearances Azerbaijan is gearing up for a war, but we all must work together to prevent it,’ he said.
He was also asked to comment on a recent statement by president Serzh Sargsyan in an interview with Syrian newspaper Al Watan that Azerbaijani territory currently held by Armenian forces could be returned in exchange for security and self-determination for the Nagorno-Karabakh.
"When the people of Karabakh get a true chance to realize their right to self-determination and mechanisms for security and development are created, then in compromise the Armenian side can consider the return of the regions around Karabakh, preserving the corridor linking it and Armenia," he said, warning that "unilateral concessions will deepen the existing dangers and threats."
According to Samvel Babayan, Serzh Sargsyan will not make such concessions and his statements in the interview should be reviewed in the political context only.
‘Azerbaijan is not talking about concessions but demands the immediate return of the territories and when a party to the conflict comes with such demands it is meaningless to talk about concessions,’ he said. He then downplayed speculations that the mounting tension around the conflict may prompt a change of power in Armenia as was in 1998.
The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh broke out in 1988 after the predominantly Armenian-populated enclave declared about secession from Azerbaijan As Azerbaijan declared its independence from the Soviet Union and removed the powers held by the enclave's government, the Armenian majority voted in 1991, December 10, to secede from Azerbaijan and in the process proclaimed the enclave the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Full-scale fighting, initiated by Azerbaijan, erupted in the late winter of 1992. International mediation by several groups including Europe's OSCE’s failed to bring an end resolution that both sides could work with. In the spring of 1993, Armenian forces captured regions outside the enclave itself. By the end of the war in 1994, the Armenians were in full control of most of the enclave and also held and currently control seven regions beyond the administrative borders of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Almost 1 million people on both sides have been displaced as a result of the conflict. A Russian- -brokered ceasefire was signed in May 1994 and peace talks, mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group, have been held ever since by Armenia and Azerbaijan. -0-
‘To all appearances Azerbaijan is gearing up for a war, but we all must work together to prevent it,’ he said.
He was also asked to comment on a recent statement by president Serzh Sargsyan in an interview with Syrian newspaper Al Watan that Azerbaijani territory currently held by Armenian forces could be returned in exchange for security and self-determination for the Nagorno-Karabakh.
"When the people of Karabakh get a true chance to realize their right to self-determination and mechanisms for security and development are created, then in compromise the Armenian side can consider the return of the regions around Karabakh, preserving the corridor linking it and Armenia," he said, warning that "unilateral concessions will deepen the existing dangers and threats."
According to Samvel Babayan, Serzh Sargsyan will not make such concessions and his statements in the interview should be reviewed in the political context only.
‘Azerbaijan is not talking about concessions but demands the immediate return of the territories and when a party to the conflict comes with such demands it is meaningless to talk about concessions,’ he said. He then downplayed speculations that the mounting tension around the conflict may prompt a change of power in Armenia as was in 1998.
The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh broke out in 1988 after the predominantly Armenian-populated enclave declared about secession from Azerbaijan As Azerbaijan declared its independence from the Soviet Union and removed the powers held by the enclave's government, the Armenian majority voted in 1991, December 10, to secede from Azerbaijan and in the process proclaimed the enclave the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Full-scale fighting, initiated by Azerbaijan, erupted in the late winter of 1992. International mediation by several groups including Europe's OSCE’s failed to bring an end resolution that both sides could work with. In the spring of 1993, Armenian forces captured regions outside the enclave itself. By the end of the war in 1994, the Armenians were in full control of most of the enclave and also held and currently control seven regions beyond the administrative borders of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Almost 1 million people on both sides have been displaced as a result of the conflict. A Russian- -brokered ceasefire was signed in May 1994 and peace talks, mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group, have been held ever since by Armenia and Azerbaijan. -0-
