WHAT ALLOWS FOR FIRING ACTIVITY? SKIRMISHES ALL ALONG THE FRONT LINE ARE INCESSANT
R. Orujev
Translated by A. Ignatkin
Source: Ekho (Baku), August 9, 2007, EV
Agency WPS
Defense and Security (Russia)
August 15, 2007 Wednesday
Azerbaijani military experts comment on the deterioration on the
Azerbaijani-Armenian border.
Units of the Armenian regular army keep making fun of the cease-fire
regime all over the front line and along the Armenian-Azerbaijani
border. The impression is that this activeness grows with each
passing day.
The Defense Minister of Azerbaijan issued a special press release.
The document states that the Armenians kept violating the truce all
over the front line on August 6 and 7. The Azerbaijani regular army
was compelled to return fire. No casualties were reported.
The Press service of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry maintains
in the meantime that the Armenians keep torching the occupied
territories. Units of the Armenian army set fire to the pastures 2.5
kilometers southwest of the settlement of Ashagy Veiselli, Fizuli
district. This activity lasted from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on August 6.
It’s hard to say what compels the Armenians to be so active in the
midst of an already scorching summer. No prominent political events
are taking place in the region and no Azerbaijani-Armenian talks are
under way. Here are comments by two Azerbaijani military experts.
Lieutenant General Vladimir Timoshenko, ex-deputy of the parliament,
refuses to consider what has been happening a political act. "No, I do
not think they are doing it on orders from the political leadership. I
do not think it is an attempt to gauge the reaction of Azerbaijan
or to decide how much pushing it will take. The way I see it, it is
the uncontrollable processes under way in the Armenian army that are
to be blamed," Timoshenko said. "We have to thank local Armenian COs
for it… It is not Armenia angling for another war. It is not ready
for the hostilities."
Rauf Rajabov, Afghani war veteran and Dengi magazine editor, is
of the opinion that the motives behind what is happening are both
military and political. "From the military standpoint, the Armenians
are trying to discover weapons emplacements and our strong and weak
points. The enemy is out to find potential breaches in our defense,"
Rajabov said. "From the political standpoint, all of that is supposed
to show us that all negotiations under way and all principles we have
so far agreed upon exist only on paper. That the Armenian leadership
is not ready for an actual agreement yet. Hence all this firing. The
military cannot exceed the limits and frames set for it by the
political masters. I suspect that this activization is a link in the
chain that even affects Georgia – I mean the recent bombing incident.
All of that is happening because the UN General Assembly is about to
discuss the matter of suspended conflicts on GUAM’s insistence. These
are acts of intimidation of Azerbaijan and Georgia for the brashness
of bringing the matter up to the international level."