Karabakh ready to repel Azeri attacks – NKR DM
Regnum, Moscow
26 Jan 05
Text of report by Russian news agency Regnum headlined “The defence
minister of Nagornyy Karabakh: ‘We are ready for a successful
counterattack'”
“The year 2004 saw unprecedented progress in the issue of
strengthening the front line of the Nagornyy Karabakh defence army. A
great deal of work was carried out to construct on the front line
engineering installations that would allow the command and personnel
to wage positional warfare and foil all the attempts of the enemy to
advance if hostilities resume,” the defence minister of Nagornyy
Karabakh, Lt-Gen Seyran Oganyan, said during a press conference on the
results of the 2004 army year.
He said that the command and staff exercises held in August last year
showed that the command and units of the army of the Nagornyy Karabakh
Republic [NKR] are capable of fulfilling properly the tasks they are
set. “A great deal of work was carried out to strengthen army
discipline, reduce the number of emergencies and military crimes (one
premeditated murder was registered),” the minister pointed out.
Seyran Oganyan also said that the wages of the military have increased
in 2005 and about 750m drams [1.27m dollars] will be allocated for
improving the housing conditions of officers and about 300m drams
[over 500,000 dollars] have been earmarked for improving the housing
conditions of the families of those killed in the war and war
veterans. The NKR defence minister pointed out that 2005 will see
improvements in the combat and professional skills and knowledge of
officers and rank-and-file soldiers. Special attention will be paid to
“the first fighting” if the war resumes because “the world’s war
experience shows that the biggest casualties occur in the initial
period of hostilities,” the minister stressed.
“Every year the NKR defence army sees certain progress, which is
stated not only by the command of the army, but also confirmed by
checks, inspections, command and staff exercises, as well as by the
commander-in-chief’s visits to army units,” the NKR defence minister
said.
Asked by journalists about Baku’s warlike rhetoric, the NKR defence
minister, Seyran Oganyan, said: “Of course, the command of the NKR
defence army is concerned about such statements, since the Karabakh
side’s task is to achieve a peaceful solution to the Karabakh
conflict. However, the balance of forces in the region is maintained
and Azerbaijan will not manage to solve anything by force. In any
case, we are ready to repel such attempts, and not only to defend
ourselves, but also to launch a successful counterattack.”
Touching on the visit by the OSCE monitoring mission to the
territories controlled by the NKR scheduled for the end of February,
Seyran Oganyan said that “he views such monitoring normally”. “These
territories are under the total control of the NKR authorities.
However, we cannot ban our citizens from farming in these territories.
At the same time, our duty is to ensure law and order in populated
areas. As for the fate of the territories themselves, a major
negotiating process lies ahead and any decision on these territories
should be adopted within the framework of this process,” the minister
said.