10:04,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. An Azerbaijani attack against Armenia is ‘highly likely’, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan has warned.
“Upon analyzing the statements coming out of official Baku, we conclude that indeed an attack on Armenia is highly likely,” Pashinyan said in an interview with France 24. “Why? Because, for example, Baku very often makes statements about the so-called Western Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is basically calling the entire Republic of Armenia ‘Western Azerbaijan’, calling the territories of the Republic of Armenia as Azerbaijani ones. On the diplomatic level Azerbaijan is assuring that it doesn’t have intentions to attack, but where do these opinions on the likelihood of an attack come from? First of all, upon expressing the publicly agreed principles in the text of the peace treaty we see some difficulties caused by Azerbaijan. Secondly, it is the public narrative voiced on the highest level, which, in short, is reflected in calling the Republic of Armenia as ‘Western Azerbaijan’. Third, the aggressiveness on the border. For example, the latest incident, when we had four deaths, this incident wasn’t anyhow justified. They stated that one of their soldiers was wounded, and we stated that we would investigate, because there’s an order not to carry out any unjustified actions, and if it turns out that there is a violation of that order there would be consequences envisaged by law. Despite these statements, Azerbaijan took advantage of that occasion in order to display aggression. It is the combination of these facts that leads many Armenian and international experts to conclude that Azerbaijan is planning a new attack on Armenia.”