SLOW WAR: ARMENIA SAYS AZERBAIJAN WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY FURTHER ESCALATION IN KARABAKH

KARABAKH | 30.03.15 | 11:09

By NAIRA HAYRUMYAN
ArmeniaNow correspondent

The latest ceasefire violation by Azerbaijan has claimed the life
of another Armenian soldier in Nagorno-Karabakh: 20-year-old Hovsep
Andreasyan was fatally wounded at the positions of one of the military
units deployed in the northeast of the republic on March 29.

Since the beginning of the year hardly a week passes by without
casualty reports from Nagorno-Karabakh. The situation along the Line of
Contact is uneasy as snipers try to hit targets and commandos launch
raids against enemy positions. Experts speak about the new tactics of
Azerbaijan that spokesman for the Armenian defense minister Artsrun
Hovhannisyan has described as “slow” or “creeping” war.

Azerbaijan has changed the tactics, adopting the method of small
“sabotage” acts. In addition, Azerbaijan has started to use new
weapons. And Armenia has already warned international organizations
about this circumstance.

In particular, Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan on Saturday
met with Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, the Personal Representative
of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE)
Chairman-in-Office. According to an official report, the two discussed
the tendency towards the destabilization of the situation.

The Armenian defense minister said that the Azerbaijani side, along
with carrying out acts of sabotage and using small arms of various
calibers, mortars of the 60-mm and 82-mm calibers, for the first time
since the establishment of the ceasefire in 1994 has used mortars of
the 120-mm caliber.

Earlier, the same statement at the OSCE Permanent Council was made
by Armenia’s permanent representative to the OSCE, Ambassador Armand
Kirakosian. He said that Azerbaijan’s using heavy artillery for the
first time since the 1994 ceasefire demonstrates Baku’s intention to
continue the escalation by means of armed clashes.

At the same time, Ambassador Kirakosian stressed that as a result
of the response of the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army the Azerbaijani
side has suffered numerous losses that Baku is trying to hide.

The Armenian side has repeatedly stated that the only way to
stop the enemy’s provocative actions is to use “disproportionate
countermeasures”. At the beginning of the year the Armenian defense
minister issued an order under which field commanders on the ground
may make decisions to open fire. Earlier, only the high command was
entitled to make such decisions. And now information about retaliation
from the Armenian side and Azerbaijani losses regularly appears in
social media.

In Armenia experts regard the statements made by Ambassador Kirakosian
and Defense Minister Ohanyan as warnings about possible measures that
would be more costly for Azerbaijan. In particular, in June Azerbaijan
is going to host the first-ever European Olympic Games, which have
a great importance for President Ilham Aliyev and his clan image-wise.

In the Armenian press assumptions have been made that Armenia may
try to “hinder” their smooth conduct.

Despite the fact that the National Olympic Committee of Armenia
has decided to participate in these Games in principle (leaving the
decisions on participation up to the sport federations and athletes
individually), it is obvious that in the international arena Armenia
will try to derail the Games’ conduct by drawing the world’s attention
to the militaristic policies of official Baku in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Besides, some remember Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s statements
that Armenia has ballistic missiles that can reach any point
of Azerbaijan. And now it is believed that if Baku continues its
tactics in Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia will consider itself entitled
to striking back, and the Games can be in real danger. (By the way,
Azerbaijan in the past also warned Armenia about its capabilities of
delivering strikes against its territory).

And now Ambassador Kirakosian and Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan
have, in fact, warned the OSCE that responsibility for the further
escalation of the situation in the region fully lies with Azerbaijan.