STEPANAKERT—Artsakh Colonel Senor Hasratyan in an interview with Artsakhpress, was asked to comment on the recent accusations by the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry of the Artsakh Defense Army shelling Azerbaijani territory, which in turn threatened to strike an artillery blow on Artsakh villages.
The colonel refuting the May 31 accusations said that they were “ungrounded,” and inaccurately stated that Azerbaijani forces have “destroyed one firing position” and “caught a surveillance device by special measures” in Artsakh.
Hasratyan—who is also the Artsakh Defense Army’s Head of the Information and Public Relations Department—further stated that “this information is nothing but a typical example of Azerbaijani primitive propaganda.”
Regarding the threats to shelling peaceful territories, Hasratyan said that even during the most heated and violent conditions along the border, the Armenian side would never resort to those tactics. “This is something I can’t say about Azerbaijan,” he continued. “Making loud statements after false accusations are typical of the Azerbaijani agitprop (propaganda).” The colonel wants to clarify to Azerbaijan that “making loud statements…doesn’t mean succeeding in the real battlefield.” He said that “wars, including our war experience, shows this.”
“The number one task of our army is ensuring the complete security of our people,” said Hasratyan, ensuring that the Artsakh Defense Army is ready to combat any situation with the strength of its professional soldiers, alongside its incomparable armaments and strategy.
The Head of the Artsakh Republic Foreign Ministry’s Department of Information and Public Relations Artak Nersisyan in comments to Armenia-based news agency News.am said that Azerbaijan’s threats toward Artsakh are “irresponsible,” adding that it is not their first time threatening to attack. He mentioned that in April 2016, the Azerbaijani Defense Minister threated to launch a missile on Artsakh’s capital city of Stepanakert.
Nersisyan said that for Azerbaijan to accuse the Armenian side of violating the ceasefire, the Azerbaijani authorities try to conceal their responsibility of increasing violence along the Artsakh and Azerbaijani border, also known as the Line of Contact. Undermine the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs aimed at the settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict exclusively by peaceful means.
“It seems that the Azerbaijani side does not fully realize the seriousness of its actions and statements, since any attempt to implement such threats will have quite predictable and extremely dangerous consequences,” said Nersisyan, “first of all, for Azerbaijan itself.”
