ARMENIA’S DEFENSE MINISTER: ANY INCOMPLETE CONFLICT IN CAUCASUS CAN
PLAY ROLE OF DETONATOR

Yerevan, April 20. ArmInfo. Any Incomplete Conflict In The Caucasus
Can Play A Role Of Detonator , The Armenia’S Defense Minister Serzh
Sarkissyan Told In The Interview To The “Krasnaya Zvezda” Newspaper.

“The South Caucasus Is Very Small And All The Countries Here Depend
On Each Other. Thus, Resumption Of Operations May Have Negative
Consequences, For Us As Well. If Talk About The Instability In Georgia,
It Is In No Way Convenient To Armenia, As Georgia Is The Only Country
Which Connects Us With The Outer World. On The Other Hand, Resumption
Of Operations Means A Definite Temptation For Other Countries To Get
Twisted In The Conflict”, Sarkissyan Said.

In Response To The Question Of Possibility Of A Peacemaking
Operation In Nagorny Karabakh, The Minister Expressed Doubt That
“Anyone Is seriously engaged in the preparation of a peacemaking
operation”. As Sarkissyan noted, agreement of parties or, at least,
reference points of the agreement are necessary for this. We can
talk about it only when the parties will come to an agreement and
of course, peacemakers will be necessary after that. Unfortunately,
there is no agreement between Azerbaijan and us so far. Therefore, it
is also early to talk about peacemakers, Sarkissyan stressed. Talking
about the situation around Nagorny Karabakh, the DM noted that the
Karabakh question is being constantly raised in Azerbaijan, thus,
trying to solve other domestic issues. “You probably know that both
the President of Azerbaijan and the Defense Minister talked time and
again, that if we do not agree with their conditions, Baku will have
to solve the issue in a military way. Moreover, we have doubled the
military budget and Azerbaijan has recently stated that it will reduce
it to $1 bln. But I think, there is a blackmail. We are not afraid
of war but we don’t want it either. In 1994, through the mediation
of Russia, an agreement was reached about operations cessation. Today
our forces are in a favorable defensive position and we equipped well
our positions within 12 years. Billion of dollars will not help us
in this case. If fighting efficiency and readiness could be defined
by great military budgets, all the oil states, I think, would have
the most efficient armies. But it is not so.”, Sarkissyan said.