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19 years of Karabakh ceasefire: Expert says Armenia will have neither
war, nor peace with Azerbaijan in foreseeable future
http://armenianow.com/karabakh/46061/armenia_azerbaijan_karabakh_ceasefire_19_years_dav id_jamalyan
KARABAKH | 14.05.13 | 16:42
Photolure
Nearly two decades after ceasefire in Karabakh the Armenian side still
has to rely on itself to maintain fragile peace in the volatile
region, a local expert says.
In 1994, Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan signed a
Russia-brokered agreement that went into effect on May 12 putting an
end to years of hostilities (the Karabakh movement started in 1988
grew into a full-blown war in 1992-1994). While ceasefire has largely
held till today, the situation on the Armenian-Azeri border and along
the line of contact in Karabakh has remained tense, with sporadic
clashes killing or wounding soldiers on both sides.
Military expert and psychologist David Jamalyan believes that as
compared to 1994, Azerbaijan has recently been demonstrating bigger
trends aimed at defending territorial integrity (Nagorno-Karabakh with
a predominantly ethnic Armenian population was an autonomous region in
Soviet Azerbaijan), and over the past 19 years has become more
aggressive, and if anything has changed in that country, certainly,
not in favor of a peaceful settlement of the conflict.
`We will keep facing the issue of forcing peace upon our enemy for as
long as the Turks of the Transcaucasus have not come to terms with the
situation. With each passing year Artsakh's [Karabakh's historic name]
statehood gets more and more viable, making Baku's claims for it more
unrealistic. I believe time is on our side and with time passing
Artsakh's Armenian identity is becoming more and more obvious to the
world,' Jamalyan told the press on Tuesday.
Jamalyan argued that despite Baku's bellicose rhetoric, the Azeri army
is not ready for war, hence presently there is no possibility that
hostilities will resume, neither that the conflict might be settled.
`Domestic tensions in Azerbaijan theoretically can trigger a new war,
however, potentially, the first ever failure in the battlefield would
further aggravate the situation,' said Jamalyan.
The military expert also believes the ceasefire regime will be
`keeping Armenia a company' for a long time to come.
`We are condemned to living and developing under ceasefire. We have no
right to deceive ourselves, ceasefire is what we'll have in our
foreseeable future. And in making peace last we can depend only upon
our own strength - the armed forces of Armenia are the most reliable
to us,' he said.
The United States, France and Russia co-chaired OSCE Minsk Group
spearheads international efforts to broker a solution to the
protracted conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. The foreign ministers of
Armenia and Azerbaijan are due to meet in Krakow, Poland, later this
month in a new effort to kick-start what appears to be a stalled
process.
war, nor peace with Azerbaijan in foreseeable future
http://armenianow.com/karabakh/46061/armenia_azerbaijan_karabakh_ceasefire_19_years_dav id_jamalyan
KARABAKH | 14.05.13 | 16:42
Photolure
Nearly two decades after ceasefire in Karabakh the Armenian side still
has to rely on itself to maintain fragile peace in the volatile
region, a local expert says.
In 1994, Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan signed a
Russia-brokered agreement that went into effect on May 12 putting an
end to years of hostilities (the Karabakh movement started in 1988
grew into a full-blown war in 1992-1994). While ceasefire has largely
held till today, the situation on the Armenian-Azeri border and along
the line of contact in Karabakh has remained tense, with sporadic
clashes killing or wounding soldiers on both sides.
Military expert and psychologist David Jamalyan believes that as
compared to 1994, Azerbaijan has recently been demonstrating bigger
trends aimed at defending territorial integrity (Nagorno-Karabakh with
a predominantly ethnic Armenian population was an autonomous region in
Soviet Azerbaijan), and over the past 19 years has become more
aggressive, and if anything has changed in that country, certainly,
not in favor of a peaceful settlement of the conflict.
`We will keep facing the issue of forcing peace upon our enemy for as
long as the Turks of the Transcaucasus have not come to terms with the
situation. With each passing year Artsakh's [Karabakh's historic name]
statehood gets more and more viable, making Baku's claims for it more
unrealistic. I believe time is on our side and with time passing
Artsakh's Armenian identity is becoming more and more obvious to the
world,' Jamalyan told the press on Tuesday.
Jamalyan argued that despite Baku's bellicose rhetoric, the Azeri army
is not ready for war, hence presently there is no possibility that
hostilities will resume, neither that the conflict might be settled.
`Domestic tensions in Azerbaijan theoretically can trigger a new war,
however, potentially, the first ever failure in the battlefield would
further aggravate the situation,' said Jamalyan.
The military expert also believes the ceasefire regime will be
`keeping Armenia a company' for a long time to come.
`We are condemned to living and developing under ceasefire. We have no
right to deceive ourselves, ceasefire is what we'll have in our
foreseeable future. And in making peace last we can depend only upon
our own strength - the armed forces of Armenia are the most reliable
to us,' he said.
The United States, France and Russia co-chaired OSCE Minsk Group
spearheads international efforts to broker a solution to the
protracted conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. The foreign ministers of
Armenia and Azerbaijan are due to meet in Krakow, Poland, later this
month in a new effort to kick-start what appears to be a stalled
process.