Nagorno-Karabakh will retaliate adequately to Azerbaijan’s offensive action: president

YEREVAN, September 28. / ARKA /. Nagorno-Karabakh president, Bako Sahakian, has warned today Azerbaijan against adventurism, saying the republic is ready to retaliate to any offensive action of Baku. Speaking at a special meeting of the Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University held to mark the 20-th anniversary of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Mr. Sahakian said Nagorno-Karabakh has always supported a peaceful settlement of the conflict, but ‘if Azerbaijan increases the scale of shelling on the line of contact we may resort to other ways of retaliation.”

 

The Karabakh president said the border has been protected for 17 years and every year there are periods of intense firing. The department of information and propaganda of the NKR Defense Army said Monday in a statement that ceasefire breaches e on the line of contact by Azerbaijani troops have increased dramatically. In September the Azerbaijani side has made more than 6,000 rounds at the positions of the Karabakh defense forces, violating the cease-fire 900 times.

 

According to Sahakian, Azeris violate the ceasefire on special days, mostly festive, like during the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the proclamation of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic on Sept. 2.

 

"But our response has been and remains the same - when they strike at us, we will not keep silent, and the enemy will always receive an adequate response," said Sahakian.

 

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--