Defense Minister: Baku hopes to seize Karabakh by blackmailing OSCE MG

August 20, 2014 - 13:17 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Despite Azerbaijan’s requesting Russia to mediate ceasefire 20 years ago, its recent sabotage attempts at the line of contact prove Baku’s main goal is to gain control over Karabakh, the republic’s Defense Minister and Defense Army Commander Movses Hakobyan stated.

According to the official, Azerbaijan still hopes to seize Karabakh by blackmailing the OSCE Minsk Group. “Baku has absurd territorial claims to Zangezur and Yerevan. As the last 20 years showed, Azerbaijan keeps avoiding the MG-suggested proposals for peaceful settlement.”

As the Minister further noted, Baku’s petrodollars bought it major amounts of armament – a proof of country’s intention to renew a war in Karabakh. “Even the arms ratio of 2 to 1 between Azeri and Armenian sides is not a guarantee of Baku’s victory, the latter having lost the war in the nineties despite a 20 to 1 prevalence.

“The army’s goal is to be permanently combat-ready, with NKR continuing military training and modernization of its arsenal,” Armenia Today quoted the official as saying.

The conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan

The conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan broke out as result of the ethnic cleansing launched by the Azeri authorities in the final years of the Soviet Union. The Karabakh War was fought from 1991 (when the Nagorno Karabakh Republic was proclaimed) to 1994 (when a ceasefire was sealed by Armenia, NKR and Azerbaijan). Most of Nagorno Karabakh and a security zone consisting of 7 regions are now under control of NKR defense army. Armenia and Azerbaijan are holding peace talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group up till now.