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EurasiaNet.org
Nov 8 2013
Armenian Armed Forces Violate Ceasefire In Several Directions
November 8, 2013 - 7:37am, by Joshua Kucera
Nearly every day, the exact same headline pops up in the news feeds of
those who follow conflict n the Caucasus: "Armenian Armed Forces
violate ceasefire in several directions." And with only slightly less
frequency, and only slightly more variation, another headline appears:
Azerbaijan Violates Ceasefire over X times Last Week."
The stories -- reprinted press releases from the respective ministries
of defense -- follow the same numbing pattern. From the Azerbaijani
side, after a couple of paragraphs saying where the alleged shooting
took place, the exact same four paragraphs close out the piece:
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan.
Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since
1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding
districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the The OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the U.S. are
currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.
The Armenian press releases are even more repetitive, not bothering to
name the sites of the alleged violation. They all follow this form,
nearly verbatim, the only variation being the number of violations
over the past week:
The adversary violated the ceasefire, at the line of contact between
the Karabakh-Azerbaijani opposing forces, around 200 times past week.
During this time, more than 1,000 shots were fired in the direction of
Armenian positions, and by way of different-caliber weapons, informs
the press service of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) Ministry of
Defense.
But as a result of the retaliatory actions launched by the vanguard
units of the NKR Defense Army, the `activeness' of the adversary was
stopped.
(Sometimes the last paragraph varies slightly, such as: "The NKR
Defense Army vanguard units, however, gave an adequate response to the
aggressive operations by the adversary and took necessary steps along
the entire length of the line of contact, to reliably defend the
military positions.")
Look through the archives of these sites and you find hundreds of
nearly identical stories. On trend.az, there are, as of the time of
this writing, 208 stories that contain the headline "Armenian Armed
Forces violate ceasefire," dating back to 2007. (Though most headlines
conclude "in several directions" there are variations, "again" being
the most common.) The pace at which these stories are produced seems
to be accelerating, however: there were 15 such stories just in the
last 30 days. In the case of Armenian site news.am, the archives only
go back to the end of 2009, but since that time there are 144 stories
whose headlines begin "Azerbaijan Violates Ceasefire..." Those stories
appear like clockwork every Saturday, as well as a monthly roundup,
e.g. "Azerbaijan violates ceasefire over 1,030 times in October"
Away from the frontlines, a lot is changing between these two enemies:
Azerbaijan's military spending has rapidly outpaced Armenia's;
Russia's role in a potential war is constantly debated; and Armenians
and Azerbaijanis who have fond memories of living together are being
replaced by a younger generation who know only hate for the other
side. The International Crisis Group warned in September that there
was a heightened risk of renewed fighting in the coming weeks and
months.
But that is hidden by the Groundhog Day quality of these stories.
Every day and week is just like the one before, and the days and weeks
after will probably be just the same -- until one day when they won't.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/67740
Nov 8 2013
Armenian Armed Forces Violate Ceasefire In Several Directions
November 8, 2013 - 7:37am, by Joshua Kucera
Nearly every day, the exact same headline pops up in the news feeds of
those who follow conflict n the Caucasus: "Armenian Armed Forces
violate ceasefire in several directions." And with only slightly less
frequency, and only slightly more variation, another headline appears:
Azerbaijan Violates Ceasefire over X times Last Week."
The stories -- reprinted press releases from the respective ministries
of defense -- follow the same numbing pattern. From the Azerbaijani
side, after a couple of paragraphs saying where the alleged shooting
took place, the exact same four paragraphs close out the piece:
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan.
Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since
1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding
districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the The OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the U.S. are
currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.
The Armenian press releases are even more repetitive, not bothering to
name the sites of the alleged violation. They all follow this form,
nearly verbatim, the only variation being the number of violations
over the past week:
The adversary violated the ceasefire, at the line of contact between
the Karabakh-Azerbaijani opposing forces, around 200 times past week.
During this time, more than 1,000 shots were fired in the direction of
Armenian positions, and by way of different-caliber weapons, informs
the press service of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) Ministry of
Defense.
But as a result of the retaliatory actions launched by the vanguard
units of the NKR Defense Army, the `activeness' of the adversary was
stopped.
(Sometimes the last paragraph varies slightly, such as: "The NKR
Defense Army vanguard units, however, gave an adequate response to the
aggressive operations by the adversary and took necessary steps along
the entire length of the line of contact, to reliably defend the
military positions.")
Look through the archives of these sites and you find hundreds of
nearly identical stories. On trend.az, there are, as of the time of
this writing, 208 stories that contain the headline "Armenian Armed
Forces violate ceasefire," dating back to 2007. (Though most headlines
conclude "in several directions" there are variations, "again" being
the most common.) The pace at which these stories are produced seems
to be accelerating, however: there were 15 such stories just in the
last 30 days. In the case of Armenian site news.am, the archives only
go back to the end of 2009, but since that time there are 144 stories
whose headlines begin "Azerbaijan Violates Ceasefire..." Those stories
appear like clockwork every Saturday, as well as a monthly roundup,
e.g. "Azerbaijan violates ceasefire over 1,030 times in October"
Away from the frontlines, a lot is changing between these two enemies:
Azerbaijan's military spending has rapidly outpaced Armenia's;
Russia's role in a potential war is constantly debated; and Armenians
and Azerbaijanis who have fond memories of living together are being
replaced by a younger generation who know only hate for the other
side. The International Crisis Group warned in September that there
was a heightened risk of renewed fighting in the coming weeks and
months.
But that is hidden by the Groundhog Day quality of these stories.
Every day and week is just like the one before, and the days and weeks
after will probably be just the same -- until one day when they won't.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/67740