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ALMOST ANNIVERSARY: AZERBAIJAN'S HOPE FOR TURKEY'S ATTACK FAILED BECAUSE OF POLITICAL CRISIS IN RUSSIA
By Aris Ghazinyan
ArmeniaNow
03.10.11 | 15:05
Photo: www.wikipedia.org
October 4, 1993, tanks opened fire at the Russian parliament building,
a historic fact that saved Armenia from Turkish air attack.
October 3 marks a historic day of 18 years ago when all the armed
forces of Armenia were on hair-trigger alert for a possible air attack
from Turkey.
Political analyst Hayk Demoyan, head of the Armenian Genocide
Institute-Museum, recalls that "Turkey then centered its forces on the
Armenian border, and deployed armored vehicles and artillery of the
220th mechanized and the 9th artillery alignment of the Sarighamish
division of the Turkish army at Bayraktaran border village."
What exactly was going on?
Presidential elections were scheduled for October 3, 1993 in
Azerbaijan; the initial predictability of the outcome did not promise
any surprises. The intrigue was however somewhere else, and Heydar
Aliyev, then running for presidency, had high hopes for it: he was
counting on opening a second front against the Armenian statehood.
And, his hopes were not groundless.
Yet in September Turkey concentrated a solid military contingent at
the Armenian border. It was then that Turkish premier Tansu Ciller,
openly demonstrating his annoyance with the Armenians' success,
stated that Turkey "is not going to sit back and do nothing".
Ankara's determination was determined by most serious crisis of
power in Russia, where the conflict between the president and the
parliament was gradually turning into an armed confrontation. Turkey
was counting on Boris Yeltsin's removal from office, on the creation
of prerequisites for reconsideration of Armenian-Russian agreements
and withdrawal of Russian military units deployed in Armenia.
Aliyev had high hopes for such a prospect, and in early October Turkey
was making attempts to use the political crisis in Russia to attack
Armenia under the pretense of a fight against Kurds.
Russian parliament speaker Ruslan Khasbulatov had reached a clear-cut
agreement with the Turkish Premier: should Khasbulatov win, Russian
frontier guards would be withdrawn from Transcaucasia. This would
enable Turkey, using the Kurdish issue as an excuse, to carry out a
limited encroachment upon Armenia.
If the October 3 presidential election results in Baku were
predictable, in the Russian capital, on the contrary, things were
happening in an interactive regime: while Azeri voters were on their
way to polling stations, Khasbulatov was calling to storm the Kremlin
and lock Boris Yeltsin in Matrosskaya Tishina ("Seaman's Silence" -
detention facility in Moscow).
The night of October 4 Yeltsin made a decision to storm the House
of Soviets: at the session of Defense Ministry's General Staff he
ordered to use tanks and armored vehicles.
On October 4, the day when the army entered Moscow and tanks opened
fire at the House of Soviets, the armed forces in Armenia were on
red alert to repulse the possible attack from Turkey. Thousands of
Russian border guards deployed on the Armenian-Turkish border were
watching the north.
Heydar Aliyev secured an almost 100-percent victory in elections, and
he could have rightfully celebrated another victory, if not for the
fact that Yeltsin's victory in Moscow wrecked his far-reaching plans.
By Aris Ghazinyan
ArmeniaNow
03.10.11 | 15:05
Photo: www.wikipedia.org
October 4, 1993, tanks opened fire at the Russian parliament building,
a historic fact that saved Armenia from Turkish air attack.
October 3 marks a historic day of 18 years ago when all the armed
forces of Armenia were on hair-trigger alert for a possible air attack
from Turkey.
Political analyst Hayk Demoyan, head of the Armenian Genocide
Institute-Museum, recalls that "Turkey then centered its forces on the
Armenian border, and deployed armored vehicles and artillery of the
220th mechanized and the 9th artillery alignment of the Sarighamish
division of the Turkish army at Bayraktaran border village."
What exactly was going on?
Presidential elections were scheduled for October 3, 1993 in
Azerbaijan; the initial predictability of the outcome did not promise
any surprises. The intrigue was however somewhere else, and Heydar
Aliyev, then running for presidency, had high hopes for it: he was
counting on opening a second front against the Armenian statehood.
And, his hopes were not groundless.
Yet in September Turkey concentrated a solid military contingent at
the Armenian border. It was then that Turkish premier Tansu Ciller,
openly demonstrating his annoyance with the Armenians' success,
stated that Turkey "is not going to sit back and do nothing".
Ankara's determination was determined by most serious crisis of
power in Russia, where the conflict between the president and the
parliament was gradually turning into an armed confrontation. Turkey
was counting on Boris Yeltsin's removal from office, on the creation
of prerequisites for reconsideration of Armenian-Russian agreements
and withdrawal of Russian military units deployed in Armenia.
Aliyev had high hopes for such a prospect, and in early October Turkey
was making attempts to use the political crisis in Russia to attack
Armenia under the pretense of a fight against Kurds.
Russian parliament speaker Ruslan Khasbulatov had reached a clear-cut
agreement with the Turkish Premier: should Khasbulatov win, Russian
frontier guards would be withdrawn from Transcaucasia. This would
enable Turkey, using the Kurdish issue as an excuse, to carry out a
limited encroachment upon Armenia.
If the October 3 presidential election results in Baku were
predictable, in the Russian capital, on the contrary, things were
happening in an interactive regime: while Azeri voters were on their
way to polling stations, Khasbulatov was calling to storm the Kremlin
and lock Boris Yeltsin in Matrosskaya Tishina ("Seaman's Silence" -
detention facility in Moscow).
The night of October 4 Yeltsin made a decision to storm the House
of Soviets: at the session of Defense Ministry's General Staff he
ordered to use tanks and armored vehicles.
On October 4, the day when the army entered Moscow and tanks opened
fire at the House of Soviets, the armed forces in Armenia were on
red alert to repulse the possible attack from Turkey. Thousands of
Russian border guards deployed on the Armenian-Turkish border were
watching the north.
Heydar Aliyev secured an almost 100-percent victory in elections, and
he could have rightfully celebrated another victory, if not for the
fact that Yeltsin's victory in Moscow wrecked his far-reaching plans.