Caucasian Knot | Azerbaijani political analysts voice conditions for unblocking of road from Goris to Kapan

Azerbaijan will open traffic on the road from Goris to Kapan if Armenia investigates an incident with the wounding of an Azerbaijani border guard, punishes the guilty persons and guarantees that no provocations will repeat, suggest Telman Abilov, the head of the NGO “Military Officers”, and Togrul Djuvarly, a member of the Azerbaijan National Public Committee for European Integration.

The “Caucasian Knot” has also reported that the State Border Guard Service of Azerbaijan claimed that on August 25, Armenian soldiers attacked a border guard on the territory of the “Gubadly” border-combat checkpoint on the road from Gorus to Gafan (from Goris to Kapan). The Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Armenia claimed that its soldiers did not participate in such incidents. The Azerbaijani soldiers blocked cars with residents of Armenia on the section of the road from Goris to Kapan for several hours, Armenian Ombudsman Arman Tatoyan reported. The Russian peacekeepers negotiated to get people out. After the second section of the road had been blocked, residents of three Armenian villages were cut off.

Telman Abilov, the head of the NGO “Military Officers”, believes that Azerbaijan has blocked traffic on the road from Goris to Kapan, since the Azerbaijani side considers the road its territory. According to him, the tension can be eliminated if the Armenian side gives an official explanation.

Togrul Djuvarly, a member of the Azerbaijan National Public Committee for European Integration, suggests that Azerbaijan has the right to take countermeasures to guard its border and protect its border guards.

In conditions when Armenia does not have normal alternative roads in the direction of the south of the country and Iran, the country should not create such problems, since Azerbaijan can react harshly, Togrul Djuvarly believes.