Analyst says Azerbaijan’s latest aggressive actions against Armenia meant to force Yerevan to sign peace agreement

YEREVAN, July 28. /ARKA/. The objective of Azerbaijan’s latest aggressive actions against Armenia is to force it to sign a peace agreement, Director of the Caucasus Institute in Yerevan Alexander Iskandaryan said in an interview with Novosti-Armenia news agency when asked to comment on the escalation of tension on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in Gegharkunik region.

Iskandaryan described the shootouts between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops deployed along the border as ‘a low intensity conflict’, saying everything that has been happening after last autumn war in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone –shooting and sabotage acts - had been taking before the war as well. “Nothing new is happening, simply the line of contact has just changed,” he said. “Before the last autumn war it ran in Horadiz, now it is in Armenian Kapan, and everything has simply moved from Nagorno-Karabakh closer to Armenia,’ he said.

According to Iskandaryan, in any long term Azerbaijan has no motivation to end the pressure on Armenia.

“Aggressive actions are part of its strategy to keep tension high on the border and try to get concessions from Armenia; moreover, as soon as it receives one, it will resume the pressure to get another one," Iskandaryan said.

He also said that by unblocking transport links Azerbaijan does not mean reopening of transport communications between Armenian Ijevan and Makhachkala in Russia or between Armenian Dilijan and Russian Stavropol.

“They want a transit railway, and possibly an overland road through Armenian Syunik that will connect Azerbaijan to Turkey and that will be out of Armenian control,” he said.

The second thing Azerbaijan is seeking, according to Iskandaryan is a document, a paper that can be presented in Azerbaijan as a recognition of its territorial integrity together with Nagorno-Karabakh, for example, a peace agreement.

Explaining the pressure from Russia (on Armenia), he noted that there are some things in which the Armenian interests coincide with the Russian ones, and there are others that coincide with the Russian ones.

He also noted that Russia wants to launch the Armenian-Azerbaijani interaction under its

Control and sponsorship and eventually to become the “new Minsk Group.” -0-