An Armenia border patrol soldier in Gegharkunik
An attack by Azerbaijan against Armenia is “highly likely,” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan warned during an interview with France 24.
“Upon analyzing the statements coming out of official Baku, we conclude that indeed an attack on Armenia is highly likely,” Pashinyan said.
“Why?,” he asked, “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 belonging to Azerbaijani,” said Pashinyan.
“On the diplomatic front, 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,” the prime minister added.
“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 aggression on the border. For example, the latest incident, when we had four deaths, this incident wasn’t anyhow justified,” Pashinyan said.
“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 envisioned by law,” Pashinyan explained.
“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,” said Pashinyan.
He also addressed Azerbaijan’s continued warnings about Armenia’s military reforms, specifically Baku’s condemnation of arms supplies to Yerevan by France, saying that efforts to revitalize Armenia’s army should not concern other countries.
“Azerbaijan raises an uproar every time we have new cooperation [agreements] in the military-technical sector, but it does not say anything about the billions of dollars its spends on arms purchases. This is an important fact,” Pashinyan told France 24.
“Why is Azerbaijan concerned about the reforms of the Armenian army when it continues to occupy sovereign territories of the Republic of Armenia, and when we propose, based on the Alma Ata Declaration, to delimit our borders and conduct a simultaneous withdrawal of troops? This would be a significant step toward mutual trust. The reforms in our army should not concern anyone,” added Pashinyan.