Armenian military expert says armed forces must be prepared to repel Azerbaijani attack any time

YEREVAN, September 30. /ARKA/. An Armenian military expert Karen Vrtanesyan believes that Armenian armed forces must be prepared to repel an Azerbaijani attack any time because the latter‘s behavior is unpredictable.

"I do not think that hostilities may resume in the conflict zone tomorrow or next week, but the conflict is not resolved.  Azerbaijan, which has cut dramatically its military budget for next year (according to news reports- from $5 billion to $1 billion), still possesses a great potential and is used to solve problems not by diplomatic means, but by  bribing the opinion of the international community,"  Vrtanesyan said.

According to him, Azerbaijan may try to solve its internal problems by launching another aggression against the Armenians, as it happened in April.

"In addition, we live in a region where conflicts are constantly taking place and therefore we need armed forces, ready to repel an attack from either side," Vrtanesyan said.

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 a successful referendum. 

On May 12, 1994, the Bishkek cease-fire agreement put an end to the military operations. 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.

On April 2, 2016, Azerbaijan launched military assaults along the entire perimeter of its contact line with Nagorno-Karabakh. Four days later a cease-fire was reached. ---0---