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AZERBAIJAN'S PRESIDENT USED TWITTER TO THREATEN MILITARY ACTION AGAINST 'ARMENIAN BARBARIANS AND VANDALS'
Business Insider
Aug 7 2014
Jeremy Bender
The President of Azerbaijan unleashed a barrage of tweets aimed
against Armenia on Thursday morning, after clashes along the border
of the Armenian-occupied Azeri territory of Ngarno-Karabakh threatened
a tenuous cease-fire that has held since 1994.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a longstanding stalemate
over the Nagorno-Karabakh province. The region was largely ethnically
Armenian but was granted to Azerbaijan after the dissolution of the
Soviet Union in the early 1990s. In 1994 the region became de facto
independent from Azerbaijan after three years of fighting. Azerbaijan
still considers Nagorno-Karabakh vital to the country's territorial
integrity, with the Armenians seen as occupiers.
Clashes between Armenian and Azeri forces over the weekend left more
than 15 people dead.
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev has taken to Twitter to lambast the
attack in an extensive string of tweets, in which he referred to
"Armenian barbarians and vandals," and promised the restoration of
Azerbaijan's territorial integrity.
His inflammatory and even belligerent language, broadcast in English
over a global forum and through a verified Twitter account, suggests
that the crisis isn't going to be defused anytime soon.
All together, Aliyev posted almost 60 tweets attacking the actions
of Armenia. In his rant, Aliyev did not rule out a military option,
raising the specter of another war at the periphery of Europe.
An estimated 30,000 people died in the latest round of fighting
over Nagorno-Karabakh, which ended in 1994 with a Russian-brokered
cease-fire. Since then, there have been sporadic border clashes. But
the conflict has mostly been frozen, remaining far from peaceful
resolution without lapsing back into outright war.
Russia, a strong ally of Armenia, has been seeking peace in the
conflict, albeit on certain preferential terms. The Azeri and Armenian
heads of state have been invited to Sochi this weekend to discuss the
current flare-up of violence and clear the way for trilateral talks.
Ongoing negations since 1994 by the Minsk Group, co-chaired by France,
Russia, and the U.S. and organized under the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), have proved incapable of finding
a solution to the conflict.
www.rferl.org
On Wednesday, the Armenian Defense Minister Seiran Ohanian visited
the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh. Ohanian told reporters that "the
Armenian forces are competitive in the region and ready to put anyone
in their place."
Within the past two years Azerbaijan has significantly outpaced Armenia
in terms of military development. However, Armenia is strongly backed
by Russia.
Any flare-up of violence in the region close to Russia's southern
border could draw Russia into the conflict -- Armenian-Russian
relations are arguably closer than ever.
However, the likelihood of a full-blown conflict between Armenia and
Azerbaijan may still be slim.
Thomas de Waal, a South Caucasus expert and a senior associate
in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace, told Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)
that clashes between these two countries had a cyclical and seasonal
character to them.
"That seems to be a pattern, that in the winter it's much quieter
when ... everyone sort of just hunkers down in their trenches,"
de Waal told RFERL. "And in the spring and summer it gets worse."
http://www.businessinsider.com/azeri-president-threatens-armenia-on-twitter-2014-8
Business Insider
Aug 7 2014
Jeremy Bender
The President of Azerbaijan unleashed a barrage of tweets aimed
against Armenia on Thursday morning, after clashes along the border
of the Armenian-occupied Azeri territory of Ngarno-Karabakh threatened
a tenuous cease-fire that has held since 1994.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a longstanding stalemate
over the Nagorno-Karabakh province. The region was largely ethnically
Armenian but was granted to Azerbaijan after the dissolution of the
Soviet Union in the early 1990s. In 1994 the region became de facto
independent from Azerbaijan after three years of fighting. Azerbaijan
still considers Nagorno-Karabakh vital to the country's territorial
integrity, with the Armenians seen as occupiers.
Clashes between Armenian and Azeri forces over the weekend left more
than 15 people dead.
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev has taken to Twitter to lambast the
attack in an extensive string of tweets, in which he referred to
"Armenian barbarians and vandals," and promised the restoration of
Azerbaijan's territorial integrity.
His inflammatory and even belligerent language, broadcast in English
over a global forum and through a verified Twitter account, suggests
that the crisis isn't going to be defused anytime soon.
All together, Aliyev posted almost 60 tweets attacking the actions
of Armenia. In his rant, Aliyev did not rule out a military option,
raising the specter of another war at the periphery of Europe.
An estimated 30,000 people died in the latest round of fighting
over Nagorno-Karabakh, which ended in 1994 with a Russian-brokered
cease-fire. Since then, there have been sporadic border clashes. But
the conflict has mostly been frozen, remaining far from peaceful
resolution without lapsing back into outright war.
Russia, a strong ally of Armenia, has been seeking peace in the
conflict, albeit on certain preferential terms. The Azeri and Armenian
heads of state have been invited to Sochi this weekend to discuss the
current flare-up of violence and clear the way for trilateral talks.
Ongoing negations since 1994 by the Minsk Group, co-chaired by France,
Russia, and the U.S. and organized under the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), have proved incapable of finding
a solution to the conflict.
www.rferl.org
On Wednesday, the Armenian Defense Minister Seiran Ohanian visited
the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh. Ohanian told reporters that "the
Armenian forces are competitive in the region and ready to put anyone
in their place."
Within the past two years Azerbaijan has significantly outpaced Armenia
in terms of military development. However, Armenia is strongly backed
by Russia.
Any flare-up of violence in the region close to Russia's southern
border could draw Russia into the conflict -- Armenian-Russian
relations are arguably closer than ever.
However, the likelihood of a full-blown conflict between Armenia and
Azerbaijan may still be slim.
Thomas de Waal, a South Caucasus expert and a senior associate
in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace, told Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)
that clashes between these two countries had a cyclical and seasonal
character to them.
"That seems to be a pattern, that in the winter it's much quieter
when ... everyone sort of just hunkers down in their trenches,"
de Waal told RFERL. "And in the spring and summer it gets worse."
http://www.businessinsider.com/azeri-president-threatens-armenia-on-twitter-2014-8