Sarkisian Vows ‘Severe Response’ to Azeri Provocations
YEREVAN—President Serge Sarkisian warned Azerbaijan over the continuous “provocations” at the border, saying that they will receive the appropriate response. Meanwhile, Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) President Bako Sahakian told Personal Representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office that the recent ceasefire violations by Azerbaijan aimed to destabilize the peace process.
“I have said on many occasions that provocations at the line of contact are extremely dangerous. I have said also that they will get a severe response,” Sarkisian told a panorama.am reporter on June 7 when asked about the recent incursions by Azeri troops.
Since June 3, Azeri forces have attacked Armenian positions in the Tavush region, as well as the Horadiz district of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic resulting in the death of three Armenian soldiers and one Karabakh soldier. One attack left five Azeri soldiers dead.
“Either these provocations have been commenced by the Azerbaijani leadership and in this case they carry personal responsibility for breaching the international commitments of Azerbaijan, or the armed forces of that country are out of the control of the general command,” added Sarkisian.
“We have no reason to resort to using force, since we consider that negotiations are the only way for the resolution of the conflict, and the settlement should stem from the realization of the right of the people of Artsakh to self-determination. As the Minsk Group Co-Chairs have stated on many occasions, it’s necessary to prepare our respective societies for peace in order to be able to move forward toward a final resolution. The Azeri side continues to do the opposite, viewing the encouragement of xenophobia as a tool to divert the attention of its citizens from domestic issues,” added Sarkisian.
“It is especially painful that the provocations took place on the very day Armenian and Azerbaijani intellectuals were holding a meeting in Moscow and the U.S. Secretary of State was visiting the region,” remarked the president.
“We do not want the situation to become more aggravated, but we will not leave any action against our citizens, state borders or Nagorno Karabakh without response. The armed forces of the Republic of Armenia have been tasked to demonstrate restraint and vigilance, at the same time prevent and punish any provocation by the rival. I’m confident that the international community and the Azeri people are aware that the blood of the killed is on their conscience,” concluded Sarkisian.
In Stepanakert, President Bako Sahakian met with the Personal Representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk.
Sahakian characterized the latest gross violations of the cease-fire regime by Azerbaijan as provocations aimed at destabilizing the situation in the region and undermining the efforts of the mediator countries. He also stressed the imperative to take measures to neutralize such behavior, reported the NKR presidential press service.
To prepare for war, the Armenian ministry of defense should create a cyberwarfare unit to create viruses to damage the Azeri government computer systems especially the computer systems controlling the oil pumps delivering oil to Georgia. This would cause damage to the Azeri economy and force them to declare a ceasefire. In the 1982 , the CIA was able to plant a virus into a Soviet computer controlling the gas pump on the transiberian gas pipeline which caused a massive explosion damaging the Soviet economy.
There are border defenses on the Armenian/Azeri border but they are inadequate. A defensive wall should be built forpreventing snipers and Azeri sabatours from attacking Armenia. A defensive wall will not stop tanks and artillery but can slow them down. allowing more time for the Armenian defenders to counterattack. Armenia needs to expand the mine fields and to build bunkers and other more advanced fortifications.
Albert: you have some truly revolutionary ideas.
Why not go to RoA and talk to DM Seyran Ohanian. I think he will listen to you.
After all he is surrounded by people who have very little experience in warfare.
And he himself was appointed not because he knows anything about military affairs, but because he has connections.
Your cyberwarfare idea is absolute genius: RoA Armenians are little backwards in technology and computer related issues compared the West, so maybe you can help them in that area also.
Mr. Sarksyan is not only an illegal and illegitimate President but also a false human being.
Jeshmaridian,
I can understand what an illegitimate President means but what does ”false human being” means in this context? Since you firmly say that he is an illegitimate President I wonder if you are an Armenian citizen, have participated in the presidential election, and have solid evidence to claim he is an illegitimate President?
Jeshmaridian
What do you exactly mean to say that “Mr. Sarkisyan is not only an illegal and illegitimate President but also a false human being”? Is what he is saying concerning the new Azeri provocation wrong and what would a legal and legitimate president do in face of the current crisis? What relevance does your name calling, right or wrong, have with Mr. Sarkisyan’s warning to the Azeri’s?
I’m glad you said that about Pres.Sarkisian, I think he did a good job by “taking the higher ground” with the Azeri provocation. Attacking a day before Sec Clinton arrived was a blatant show of disrespect she will not forget.
I hope your President will make a follow-up call to Sec Clinton and request some equipment (motion sensors, access to 24/7 monitoring of the ceasefire line through our systems,etc). to secure it’s borders. Following condemnation from the Europeans, it’s clear now that while Aliyev puts on a great show, nobody’s buying a ticket.
If not for the Russian support, Armenia is doomed to lose the war.
That’s the myth that most of Turks think. If what you said is true, you should have won the war.. doesn’t make sense.. start another war and you will hear more bad news.. salam
Ahmet in reality the Azeri’s already lost the first war that they started themselves and they conceded a cease fire as they were being pummeled,. At that time the Armenians had no weapons to speak of or any organized military. Yes i know the dictator of Azerbayjan buys expensive military hardware and apparently his countries cease fire means nothing as he always talks of resuming the war..
Understand this: the azeri’s have way more to lose as in the oil pipelines that many countries have invested large sums in and most importantly the dictator regime might topple for good…not to mention more land lost back to their rightful owners the Armenians.. If the azeri’s felt they could win they would already have launched their war.
Also understand the Armenians have been defenseless for centuries under Turkish rule and easy prey at the whim of opportunistic and sedistic Turks.. Those days are over..Not saying the Armenians will win every war but they will inflict heavy damage to anyone trying. Turks aren’t as brave as you think they are..Especially the loser Azeri’s.
Ahmet, I could easily say if it was not Turks, Chechens, Afghans and other Muslims fighting from the Azeri side in the Karabakh war the situation for Azeris would be much worse.
And no, Russians did not help Armenians to fight the war. You can watch multiple videos from Karabakh war and you can see that fighters were Armenians from Karabakh, Armenia and Diaspora.
Azeri Tatar Turks cannot believe that the same people they looked down on as inferior gyavurs could possibly defeat their numerically superior and much better equipped military.
So they have created the myth that Armenians won because of Russian help.
I will give one example to refute your myth, Ahmet:
There was no Russian help when Armenians stormed and liberated Shushi: a strategic victory that changed the course of the war.
It was Armenian commanders who devised the ingenious operation in complete secrecy: Russians knew nothing about it. (Armenians did not trust that certain Russians sympathetic to Azerbaijan would not leak the plan to Azeris).
It was the Armenian commandos who scaled sheer cliffs and attacked the Azeri Tatar garrison from a direction they did not expect.
Armenians were outnumbered more than 2 to 1.
Armenians had far less ammunition and fewer equipment.
Azeris held the higher ground, with sheer cliffs all around Shushi.
Yet Armenians won a decisive victory with KIA ratio of 4-to-1 in their favour.
Even after Shushi, Azeris created the myth that they were “betrayed”: “….that’s why they lost”.
Shamil Basayev, the commander of the tough Chechen battalion which fought alongside Azeris in Shushi, ridiculed the idea in a TV interview later.
His Chechens were the last to leave Shushi as Armenians were coming in from all sides: he said, in so many words, that Azeri Turks simply ran.
Sarkisian needs to END ALL NEGOTIATING FROM HERE ON OUT AND DECLARE KARBAGH AN INDEPENDENT STATE.. As long as these provocations continue, all talks should be abandoned otherwise his threats have no weight.. If the International mediators have legitimate concerns for the peaceful resolution of the conflict then they will also need to pressure the dictator regime that rules Azerbaijan that currently only talks of war..
THE ARMENIAN SIDE NEEDS TO DO NOTHING OTHER THEN PROTECT ITS BORDERS AND CITIZENS….WHY CONTINUE ANY TALKS OF RESOLUTION WHEN THE OTHER SIDE THAT LOST THE WAR, ONLY TALKS OF RESUMING THE WAR? MAKES NO SENSE AND ONLY ENCOURAGES THESE PROVOCATIONS..
Guest
Hopefully, Sec. Clinton and other US leaders will not forget this slap on their face and will be sensible enough to bring the needed pressure on Azerbaijan to stop his adventuristic policy. If they are really concerned about not letting the situation get out of contol in South Caucusus, they should provide the necessary monitoring means to Armenia, as you suggest, to neutrallize continuing Azeri provocations.
Ahmet
Do you mean to suggest that Azerbaijan is fighting alone? What are then thousands of Turkish military advisors doinng there? What about the huge Israeli military sales to Azerbaijan? Or may be the colossal oil incomes are spent on the country’s poor and needy and not on armaments?
Provocation or not, the Armenian leadership must start putting pressure on the US leadership, reminding them of what Baku thinks of US by breaching Armenian borders in the face of Clinton coming to the region. That is the only way to get Azerbaijan subdued. Baku makes military moves against Armenia, because it thinks that it is free to do so. Until they are leashed, chained, and tied down by their masters, they will continue to lash out in their feats of rabid rage.