(MENAFN- AzerNews)
Fuad Muxtar-Aqbabali read more Armenia has resorted to another provocation against Azerbaijan's
stout resolve to enforce its own national laws across the whole of
Karabakh, and the situation in and around the troubled region, once
under Armenia's Occupation regained during the 2020 war, has again
escalated to the limit.
What is behind fresh Armenian provocation?
This provocation was long in coming and Azerbaijan sustained two
losses on March 5, while preventing another attempt of the Karabakh
separatists to smuggle weapons and mine into the country from
Armenia using a dirt road.
The truce violations were registered simultaneously in Daskasan,
Kalbajar, and Gadabay districts on the Armenian border between
March 5-6 as well the shelling of Azerbaijani army positions in
Shusha by illegal Armenian armed groups in Karabakh was to distract
attention to the major shipment of weapons to the separatist
region. Truce violations along the Azerbaijani and Armenian borders
and inside Karabakh usually occur when Armenians plan military
shipments to the region to distract Baku's attention and this was
also not excluded on Sunday.
Beyond the shadow of a doubt, Azerbaijan is aware of illicit
deliveries from Armenia to the separatist region via the road
beyond its control under the supervision of the Russian
peacekeepers as the 86-day-long picketing of the Azerbaijani
eco-activists and civil society representatives on the Lacin road
turned upside down plans of the separatists to use the ultra-modern
transport link for shipment of weapons and military personnel to
the area to beef up positions after the defeat in 2020.
In a statement on Armenia's provocation in the close proximity
of Shusha, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said the incident
happened when servicemen tried to stop a vehicle of the separatists
to check the information that the Khankandi- Xalfali-Turssu unpaved
road is used for weapons, mines, and troops deliveries from Armenia
to the breakaway region.
The latest shootout on the Khankandi-Xalfali-Turssu road proved
one more time that both the separatists in Karabakh, backed by
Armenia and their many-tentacled network of patrons and media
outlets work hand in hand, and their efforts are to torpedo the
confidence-building measures being spearheaded by Azerbaijan over
recent months.
Reconciliation backlash?
The March 5 shootout in Karabakh occurred four days after the
talks between Azerbaijani and Karabakh community representatives in
Khojaly with the mediation of the Russian peacekeepers.
On March 1, Azerbaijan initiated a meeting with representatives
of the Karabakh's Armenian community in anticipation of restarting
the reconciliation process following the ousting of Ruben
Vardanyan, a Moscow-sent emissary to heighten tension in the region
and upset the applecart.
The ministry said that the Lachin-Khankandi road is the only
route that could be used for connection between Armenia and
Karabakh and that the use of alternative roads is absolutely
unacceptable. It added that the March 5 incident demonstrated the
importance of establishing a checkpoint by Azerbaijan on the Lachin
road.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in remarks for reporters on
February 18 in Munich unveiled Baku's proposal for the erection of
checkpoints on the Armenian border to keep under control what is
brought in and taken out of the region.
“...it would be good if Armenia and Azerbaijan established
checkpoints on the Armenian-Azerbaijan border in a bilateral
manner. We made this suggestion earlier and made it official today.
Previously, this suggestion was communicated through unofficial
channels. Armenia did not voice any position. They probably need
some time to discuss it,” the president said.
What emboldens Armenia?
Nowadays Armenia seems confident with the deployment of the EU
observation mission on the undelimited border with Azerbaijan and
pins great hopes on the mission to be a remedy for and protect it
against anti-Azerbaijani provocations.
On 6 March, a series of footage was in the public domain, which
showed military deliveries from Armenia to Karabakh via the road
where the shootout happened.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a statement on March 5
that Armenia should halt military deliveries to Karabakh and
immediately withdraw armed forces from the region.
The provocation in Karabakh shows Yerevan's intention to go
ahead with similar policies designed to preserve neither peace nor
war status quo for wishful for Armenia days to attempt to regain
control again if Azerbaijan fails.
Armenia has not given up its policy of occupation against
Azerbaijan and is not interested in establishing peace and security
in the region. Armenia has substantially modified ways of
presenting its own foreign policy objectives, avoiding loaded
language, and pretending that the Karabakh issue is off its agenda
by spotlighting the humanitarian aspect of the issue. However,
military deliveries speak volumes about its overt and covert
undertakings and lay bare targets of Yerevan's future-oriented but
futile hopes for the situation to revamp one day.
Armenia's call on the international organizations for an
international fact-finding mission to Azerbaijan's sovereign
territories is another brazen effort of Yerevan to pose its nose
into Baku affairs.
'Under the current circumstances, sending an international
fact-finding mission to the Lachin corridor and Nagorno-Karabakh is
of vital importance,” the Armenian foreign ministry said.
Military action in Karabakh is a must
Limited military operations are a must in Karabakh's separatist
areas nowadays to crush negative developments in the bud and the
issue has never been off the table. Azerbaijan can start an
anti-terror operation any moment now.
The Russian peacekeeping troops, who are in control of the area,
are also to blame for the deadly incident as they turn a blind eye
to Armenians' use of alternative roads in Karabakh in return for
bribes and other gifts, and this is beyond any doubt.
The Russian military contingent makes money on the disaster,
conflict, and bloodshed of the two nations and this is one of the
reasons for the failure of the Russians in the region to keep the
Armenian armed forces in Karabakh.
Dissatisfaction with Russia
The shootout took place in the zone of responsibility of the
Russian peacekeeping contingent. And this circumstance immediately
caused a wave of criticism against Moscow, both in Baku and in
Yerevan.
Armenia reproaches the peacekeepers for the inability to end the
“blockade of Karabakh” and Baku is dissatisfied with the fact that
the peacekeepers allow the Armenian security forces to move along
country roads in their area of responsibility, which opens up the
possibility for unauthorized transportation of weapons into the
region. Azerbaijan believes that the Russian command is cooperating
too closely with the power structures of the separatists.
Yerevan is dissatisfied with the current situation and is also
trying to influence Moscow, but by other geopolitical methods. The
team of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, at every
opportunity, shows the Kremlin that the West can be chosen as the
main mediator, protector, and sponsor. It is no coincidence that
recently Yerevan has sharply increased contacts with European and
American representatives, and more and more willingly discusses
ways out of the conflict with Azerbaijan not in Moscow, but in
Brussels.
Media and Telegram channels associated with Nikol Pashinyan and
his team are very critical of Russia. The situation is more and
more reminiscent of zugzwang when each of the possible moves only
worsens the position.
On March 6, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry blamed the Russian
Defense Ministry for spreading false information that serves
Armenia's interests and runs principles of the mission it has been
vested with since 2020.
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