HAYK KOTANJYAN: BAKU SHIFTS BLAME FOR INCIDENT ONTO THE ARMENIAN SIDE

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.03.2008 14:27 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "By request of Karabakhi side, the Armenian armed
forces’ leaders immediately brought the incident to the notion of
OSCE CiO’s personal representative, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk and
tried to contact the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry, which replied that
Minister Safar Abiyev is too busy to answer phone calls," said major
general Hayk Kotanjyan, head of the RA Defense Ministry Institute
of National Strategic Studies, Defense Minister’s spokesman, colonel
Seyran Shahsuvaryan told PanARMENIAN.Net.

"The Armenian military took retaliatory measures and rebuffed the
Azeri attack, restoring the status quo.

The military leaders also offered the possibility to take dead soldiers
from the battlefield," he said.

"Azerbaijani official and public circles are debating the unsuccessful
attempt of the Azeri army, trying to impose their own version on the
Azeri public and the international community. "Presenting false figures
on allegedly killed Armenian soldiers and praising the heroism of the
Azeri army, Baku shifts blame for the incident onto the Armenian side.

This distortion of facts is aimed to provide the international
community with an interpretation beneficial for the Azeri
authorities challenged by the forthcoming presidential election. Azeri
interpretation schemed on falsification of facts and exploitation of
emergency rule in Armenia is an attempt to manipulate public opinion
of the international community interested in peace and stability in
the South Caucasus," Hayk Kotanjyan said.

On March 4, Azeri special forces attacked one of Armenian
positions. The attack was rebuffed and status quo restored. Two
Armenian officers were injured. The Azeri side lost 8 soldiers killed.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress