New war with Azerbaijan is inevitable, expert says
YEREVAN, February 12. /ARKA/. A new war (with Azerbaijan) is inevitable, but the question is whether Armenia is ready for it, an expert in Azerbaijani affairs Angela Elibegova said today at a meeting organized by the youth union of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation/Dashnaktsutyun party.
“The war is inevitable. The question is whether we are ready for it or not, whether we will be a subject or an object in that war, ”she said.
According to her, the war is inevitable, because Turkey and Azerbaijan do not want Armenia and Armenians in this region. 'This is the simplest and most common answer: they do not want our physical presence here because they look at us as an obstacle to materializing their idealistic dreams of Big Turan," she said.
“They need our geographic location, our water resources and everything else. They need these territories without Armenian population,” she said.
According to Elibegova, the plans of Turkey and Azerbaijan regarding Armenia have not changed over the past 100 years, and there are no tendencies that they will change.
“Their plans are the same, and they will remain so as long as we and they exist in the region,” she stressed.
As a second, more pragmatic reason, the expert noted that Azerbaijan is now in a more favorable positions to start it.
"As a result of the war, Azerbaijani troops have taken all strategic positions along the border with Armenia . If Azerbaijanis record a success, they will have no motivation to stop,”she said.
In this regard, Elibegova added that when it comes to unblocking transport communications in the region, one should not have an illusion that Armenia will receive any serious economic benefits. "Turkey and Azerbaijan will never allow Armenia to strengthen," she explained.
After the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan signed a statement on the cessation of all hostilities in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) on November 9, more than 190 settlements in Artsakh and adjacent seven regions came under the control of Azerbaijan.
As a result, the borders of the Syunik region in the south of Armenia (including the administrative center of Kapan) appeared to be in close proximity to the new borders of Azerbaijan, drawn up during the Soviet times.
Residents of some settlements in Syunik were protesting against the decision of Armenian armed forces to dismantle their military posts and withdraw from strategically important heights, which came under control of Azerbaijani armed forces.
As a result of the demarcation of borders carried out with the help of GPS, 11 houses in the village of Shurnukh in Syunik ended up in Azerbaijani territory (the owners of another house refused to live near the enemy troops and left. Azerbaijan has deployed there a military post.-0-