Baku trying to use Armenian captives for its propaganda – expert

A contract serviceman of Karabakh army of defense, 24-year old Andranik Grigoryan left his weapon, deserted and crossed into Azerbaijan at about 13:50 on Sunday March 22, the press office of Nagorno-Karabakh ministry of defense reported. Azerbaijani mass media disseminated a video of Grigoryan on Monday. 

During the last years, whenever an Armenian soldier or civilian was found in the territory of Azerbaijan, irrespective of the circumstances, Baku’s aim was to manipulate and use it for propaganda purposes, Yalanuzyan said, as cited by Novosti-Armenia.  

The analyst said Baku is also interested in having its propaganda replicated by Armenian mass media as much as possible because it targets the Armenian audience. 

Hence, the expert said, the mass media should behave in a more reserved way and be guided only by facts. 

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--