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AZERBAIJAN AND ARMENIA CONTINUE DEADLY BLAME GAME
by Giorgi Lomsadze
EurasiaNet.org
Nov 22 2011
NY
It was not us, but even if it was us, we still blame Armenia, said
Azerbaijan about a fire exchange over the weekend that left two
Armenian soldiers dead. Earlier on, Armenia ominously threatened a
"disproportionate" retaliation for these latest deaths on the face-off
line between Azerbaijani and Armenian and separatist Karabakhi forces.
Both Baku and Yerevan keep repeating the same "they started it"
mantra, so the response from Azerbaijan was fairly predictable. "We
only respond to the fire from the opposing side," claimed Azerbaijani
Defense Ministry spokesperson Teimur Abdulayev, and advised the
Armenians to look for the fire starters amongst their own number,
rather than blame Azerbaijan.
Meanwhile, the de facto military authorities in separatist Nagorno
Karabakh are making similar, eye-for-an-eye threats.
One Armenian commentator argues that the gunfire exchanges are not
sporadic and tend to coincide with developments in internationally
mediated efforts to resolve the Karabakh conflict. One Azerbaijani
analyst, however, has noted that the real problem goes far beyond
international mediators -- even after years of talks, Baku and Yerevan
remain too far apart on the central issue at hand, the status of
Nagorno Karabakh. That means look for the blame game to continue.
From: Baghdasarian
by Giorgi Lomsadze
EurasiaNet.org
Nov 22 2011
NY
It was not us, but even if it was us, we still blame Armenia, said
Azerbaijan about a fire exchange over the weekend that left two
Armenian soldiers dead. Earlier on, Armenia ominously threatened a
"disproportionate" retaliation for these latest deaths on the face-off
line between Azerbaijani and Armenian and separatist Karabakhi forces.
Both Baku and Yerevan keep repeating the same "they started it"
mantra, so the response from Azerbaijan was fairly predictable. "We
only respond to the fire from the opposing side," claimed Azerbaijani
Defense Ministry spokesperson Teimur Abdulayev, and advised the
Armenians to look for the fire starters amongst their own number,
rather than blame Azerbaijan.
Meanwhile, the de facto military authorities in separatist Nagorno
Karabakh are making similar, eye-for-an-eye threats.
One Armenian commentator argues that the gunfire exchanges are not
sporadic and tend to coincide with developments in internationally
mediated efforts to resolve the Karabakh conflict. One Azerbaijani
analyst, however, has noted that the real problem goes far beyond
international mediators -- even after years of talks, Baku and Yerevan
remain too far apart on the central issue at hand, the status of
Nagorno Karabakh. That means look for the blame game to continue.
From: Baghdasarian