"SKIRMISHES" AS REPORTED BY AZERBAIJANI MEDIA OUTLETS: ABSOLUTE CANARDS?
DEFENSE and SECURITY
April 9, 2008 Wednesday
Russia
Azerbaijani media outlets have a field day on regular violations of
the cease-fire regime by the Armenians. Practically every episode
reported by the local media and repeated by foreign outlets ends in
the optimistic assurance that the Azerbaijanis "returned fire and
silenced the enemy. No casualties were reported."
All reports on the subject came from the Teter district once, but no
more. Azerbaijani war correspondents report skirmishes in the Tovuz,
Fizuli, and Agdam districts, these days. These reports "on the Armenian
villainy" have appeared every day for nearly a month now.
The Armenian Defense Ministry denounced every such report as false.
Armenia ascribes the distribution of this patently false information to
the forthcoming presidential race in Azerbaijan. Baku in the meantime
has stiffened its stand on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. It even demands
dismantlement of the OSCE Minsk Group that has been grappling with
the problem these last four years and insists on elevation of the
matter to the UN level.