Political scientist Gagik Hambaryan, commenting on the decision of the US Department of State to take Azerbaijan off the list of countries, to which it sells weapons, during a conversation with www.aravot.am, said, “It testifies that one of the Minsk Group co-chairs, namely the US, has shown by this step that although they don’t respond openly or respond vaguely to the provocations of Azerbaijan, they, nonetheless, understand who violates the ceasefire on the contact line between Azerbaijan and Artsakh. They made it known by that that they think Azerbaijanis are the only ones to blame. This was visible more obviously during the latest visit of the US Secretary of State to the region, when as a result of Azerbaijanis’ provocations, 4 Armenian soldiers were killed and during the Armenian counterattack, 50 Azerbaijani officers and soldiers were killed, according to unofficial data.”
According to the political scientist, 99.9% of violations of the ceasefire regime were committed by Azerbaijanis; the Armenian side doesn’t need it, since it has achieved its goal. And Azerbaijanis, according to Gagik Hambaryan, have become impudent lately, because the international community and the Minsk Group co-chairs haven’t made any statements and haven’t blamed one of the sides, specifically, for violating the ceasefire. “During the visit of the US Secretary of State, they organized such provocations and the US government couldn’t help but respond to that. Although they didn’t openly blame Azerbaijan for organizing those provocations, at the same time, it was a hard blow to Azerbaijan that the US Department of State crossed its name off the list of countries, to which it sells weapons, because the US showed that it didn’t like the impudent attitude of Baku in the region, which can make the situation in the region even worse and greatly damage the US interests in not only Transcaucasia, but also the whole Middle East. No one can say what will happen in the Middle East, if military operations in Nagorno-Karabakh, which will not be the same as the military operations in 1991-94 at all, resume. So more countries will be involved, more weapons of mass destruction will be used against one another. And the existence of oil and gas pipelines will be under great threat, because the Armenian side will necessarily take into account that Azerbaijan will use the money gotten from oil and gas to buy weapons and use them against Armenians.”
According to the political scientist, it is good that at least one of the Minsk Group co-chairs showed Azerbaijan by diplomatic and military means that it didn’t like the latter’s attitude and this means that Azerbaijani provocations may find clearer responses from the international community and the US, in particular. “I would be very happy, if France and Russia also expressed their positions on the Azerbaijani provocations, in order that the situation in the region returned to the previous course to some extent, until the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was settled around the negotiating table,” the political scientist says.
Nune AREVSHATYAN
