AZERIS ARE SURPRISED HOW ARMENIANS MANAGED TO GET PHOTOS OF JUGHA RIFLE RANGE
By Aghavni Harutyunian
AZG Armenian Daily #050
21/03/2006
The Azeri printed media has responded to the recent publication
the photos that depicted the new rifle range that replaced the
Jugha medieval khachkars in the Armenian newspapers. In particular,
“Zerkalo” newspaper relentlessly denies the fact that over 10.000
medieval cross stones were gathered in the Armenian graveyard in Old
Jugha (Nakhijevan).
The newspaper poses two questions: firstly, they wonder whether the
news on destruction of the Armenian cross stones and construction of
military range on that territory are true. Secondly, they try hard to
understand how the Armenians managed to get the photos of the range,
if it belongs to the Azeri army.
Tair Taghizade, press secretary of the Azeri Foreign Ministry, stated
that Azerbaijan has no official information that would prove that the
abovementioned range belongs to Azerbaijan. Taghizade also stated that
even if the information is confirmed one should not be surprised, as
any independent state has the right to carry out military arrangements
in its territory. Denying the fact of destruction of Armenian khachkars
without pressing any arguments, he said that the Armenian side tries
to deceive the international community.
While the Azeri Defense Ministry totally excludes that the range
belongs to the Azeri army. They added that they have certain doubts
about the territory as well, as the photos could be results of
montage. This brilliant idea occurred to retired colonel-lieutenant
Ouzeir Jafarov. He added that the range is situated in Meghri region
of Armenia, while the photos are shot from the territory of Iran. He
grounded the last factors with the supposition that everything was
done within the framework of Iran-Armenia cooperation.