“The potential for major escalation is always there. Both sides have enough weapons, enough armor — the conflict could arise at any time,” Suleymanov cautioned. “There is a dangerous reality on the ground where things could really get out of hand.”
At its worst point, in 1994, the conflict claimed the lives of 30,000 people and prompted a refugee flow of more than one million, bringing about a precarious cease-fire agreement.
But as it now stands, cease-fire violations are daily happenings, often taking the form of sniper-fire exchanges across the dividing line. Around once a month, Suleymanov said, the sniper fire is stepped up to artillery exchanges.
And the two warring factions have stepped up their military capacity, too.
Although the leaders of both nations are meeting in Vienna for peace talks again this week, confidence that there will be an immediate resolution to the long-running impasse is modest.
“People today have lived with this stalemate conflict,” Suleymanov said. “People want to see peace; people want to intermarry. People want to heal.”
The Armenian Embassy declined to comment, preferring to wait until after the Vienna Summit to make any public statements.
Suleymanov spoke to Fox News soon after speaking at his sixth consecutive AIPAC conference, in which he emphasized that Azerbaijan serves as the only Muslim-majority nation to take a place at the Israel-focused annual event.
“Being Muslim doesn’t mean we are anti-Israel, and we have a strong partnership,” he said, dismissing any criticism they receive for their AIPAC participation. “We get pushback for many things we do, it isn’t a big deal.”
Hollie McKay has a been a Fox News Digital staff reporter since 2007. She has extensively reported from war zones including Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Burma, and Latin America investigates global conflicts, war crimes and terrorism around the world. Follow her on Twitter.
