Azerbaijan`s claims about Armenia`s plans to unleash war absurd -  Swedish MP

ArmInfo. Swedish MP Erik Hellsborn has made the following statement: 

"I read on the Azerbaijani news site Caliber that Armenia is planning  to attack Azerbaijan. While this is not an official channel for the  regime, it should be remembered that the country is a dictatorship,  and that there is no free, independent press. Reporters Without  Borders describes a "very serious situation" for journalists, and in  the Press Freedom Index the country is ranked 164th, below both  Russia and Venezuela. The message can therefore be considered  sanctioned by the regime.

The accusation is of course completely absurd. While the dictatorship  in Baku repeatedly uses warlike rhetoric, the democratically elected  government in Yerevan is trying to find a peaceful way forward. It is  certainly true that Armenia is strengthening and modernizing its  military, but this is a reaction to the aggression from Azerbaijan,  and no indication for them seeking conflict. Moreover, despite this  strengthening of the army, Armenia is still only ranked 91st in  GlobalFirepower, which ranks the military strength of the world's  countries. Azerbaijan, on the other hand, is ranked number 60. That  Armenia would try to invade the militarily much stronger Azerbaijan  makes little sense.

The article also attacks the EU mission in Armenia, who are accused  of spying on Azerbaijani forces and border positions, and then  passing the information on to Armenia. These are pure conspiracy  theories. The EU wanted to have missions on both sides of the border  in order to prevent escalation and more violence. But while the EU  was welcomed in Armenia, there has always been a no from Azerbaijan.  The Azerbaijani reluctance to the EU mission was perhaps illustrated  most clearly by the country's EU ambassador Vaqif Sad?gov, who posted  a picture of an armor-piercing sniper rifle on X, along with a call  for the mission to stay away from the Azerbaijani border.

Armenia wants the world to see what is happening in the region,  Azerbaijan does not. That says a lot about who is threatening the  peace.

Because the peace IS threatened, just not by Armenia. The claims of  Armenian preparations for war should be seen as a warning about  Azerbaijani ditto. The risk is that Azerbaijan plans to use false  claims of violence from Armenia to justify its own violence. A phrase  towards the end of the article paints a worrying attitude: "all  construction equipment currently in Yerevan will be directed to  Yerablur." For those who are not familiar with Yerablur, this is  Armenia's military cemetery, where the fallen from previous wars  against Azerbaijan rest. It is difficult to interpret the message as  anything other than that they are prepared to kill thousands.

Azerbaijan should be aware that no one in Europe buys their false  narrative. And starting a new armed conflict would be a very bad  idea.