Inciting Azerbaijan to unleash aggression against Artsakh, Turkey did ill service to Azerbaijan, says Vagharshak Haroutiunyan, the former defense minister of Armenia.
Talking to ArmInfo, he said: “I have told about the possibility of such scenario yet long ago. Turkey just waited for a favorable moment.” he his sure that Ankara is trying to distract the attention of the world community from the problems connected with Turkey. Besides, Turkey demonstrates its influence on Azerbaijan to increase its own geopolitical capitalization.
“For instance, Turkey managed to do it in the bargaining with the EU on the Syrian refugees. Now, Ankara is trying to repeat its success even using its ally Azerbaijan,” he said. The expert did not call what is happening on the border “war,” as there is so far no nation-wide mobilization. He said it is an unprecedented provocation by Azerbaijan since 1994.
“Our army has already stopped the enemy causing serious damage to it. This will give Aliyev a reason to understand that he should not poke his nose into Artsakh,” Haroutiunyan said.
To note, Azerbaijan attacked the in Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army positions along the Line of Contact on April 1-2 night. Fierce fighting continues along the Line of Contact of the Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijani armed forces. The Armenian Air Defense Force shot down 2 Azerbaijani military helicopters, 3 drones and 5 battle tanks. The adversary has suffered more than 200 casualties. Air force, armored vehicles and artillery are used. The adversary uses artillery against the populated areas and places of permanent dislocation of the military units. The Armenian side has suffered 18 casualties and has 35 wounded. A child aged 12 was killed and two children were wounded. The heavy fighting continues.