Pan Armenian News

ARMENIAN ARMED FORCES GENERAL STAFF CHIEF: IF BAKU LAUNCHES WAR IT WILL LOSE

10.05.2005 06:34

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The tension at the contact line between the Armenian and
Azeri Armed Forces is preserved. As Deputy Defense Minister, Chief of the
General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia, colonel general Mikayel
Harutyunian stated, Azeri leaders’ aggressive statements cause the tension
at the contact line. At that in his words, there are no abrupt changes at
the contact line. `There is skirmish, there were a few victims and wounded
from our side. However, it is not the number the Azeri party points out, but
10 times less,’ Harutyunian emphasized adding that `there are many victims
from the Azeri side and the Armenian party has specific data about it.’ The
Armenian general advised that the Azeri leadership refrain from militarist
statements, as these automatically transfer to the officer personnel and the
soldiers at the frontline, which entails the tension. `As a result they get
many corpses and this refers not only to skirmish. Cases of mass beating of
soldiers in Azeri troops are registered, as well as mass desertion,’ he
informed. `I advise to calm down for the front line to become calm and it
will allow to solve the problem via peaceful means,’ Mikayel Harutyunian
accentuated. `The Armenian Armed Forces are ready to fulfill the tasks posed
at them. I am sure that if Baku launches a war, it will lose. I have always
said and I will keep saying – and this is not boasting – that we are
well-informed about the combat efficiency of the Azeri Armed Forces and we
are convinced that by starting a war they will lose not only the war, but
also many lands and people,’ the Armenian General Staff chief summed up,
reported Regnum news agency.