By Sargis Harutyunyan
YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian warned Azerbaijan on Monday against attempting to win back Nagorno Karabagh by force, saying that Armenian troops have significantly beefed up defense fortifications around the territory and are prepared for another war.
“As defense minister, I’m always getting ready for that,” Ohanian said when asked about chances of renewed fighting for Karabagh at a meeting with students and the faculty of Yerevan State University.
“Both the entire army personnel and all of our veteran guys, mobilization resources know that the army command, including the defense minister, would be personally engaged in all hot and tough spots that might, God forbid, emerge on the borders of our republic and Artsakh (Karabagh) in order to defend our people,” he told them.
Ohanian says the Karabagh Armenian army backed by Armenia proper has in recent years further fortified its positions east and north of the territory in a way that precludes the success of any Azerbaijani offensive. “The Defense Army of the Nagorno-Karabagh Republic has created such a system of fortifications which the enemy can not attack and overcome in a classical style,” he said.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev regularly states that Baku will “liberate” Karabagh and Armenian-controlled territories surrounding it if the long-running peace talks with Armenia end in failure. International mediators disapprove of such threats, saying that the Karabagh conflict can not be resolved by military means.
