THE CEASEFIRE REGIME IS BREACHED PERMANENTLY
by R. Manafly
Translated by Pavel Pushkin
Source: Echo (Baku), June 08, 2007, p. EV
Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
June 13, 2007 Wednesday
So Far, There Is No Need To Pay Special Attention To The Facts Of Breaching Of The Ceasefire
Agreement On The Contact Line Of The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict That Grow More Frequent
According to an Azerbaijani expert, this fact may be used during the
upcoming meeting of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia
The facts of breaching a ceasefire agreement on the contract line
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict growing more frequent may be used
at the upcoming meeting of presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia,
Ilkham Aliev and Robert Kocharyan, in St. Petersburg. Uzeir Dzhafarov,
military expert and retired colonel lieutenant, made this proposal.
The facts of breaching a ceasefire agreement on the contract line
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict growing more frequent may be used
at the upcoming meeting of presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia,
Ilkham Aliev and Robert Kocharyan, in St. Petersburg. Uzeir Dzhafarov,
military expert and retired colonel lieutenant, made this proposal.
Facts of the ceasefire agreement breach by Armenian servicemen
have grown more frequent lately on the contract line of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. For example, at 10:30 p.m. yesterday,
Armenian armed forces fired at positions of the Azerbaijani national
army from the occupied village Bashkervend of the Agdam District
for seven minutes. Armenians fired machine guns and other automatic
weapons. Nothing was reported about the losses.
In the night of June 6, Armenian armed forces also fired on positions
of the Azerbaijani army near Shikhlar village of the Agdam District
of Azerbaijan. The firing started at 3:45 a.m. By response fire the
enemy was suppressed. There were no losses.
On June 5, Armenian armed forces fired on positions of the national
army of Azerbaijan in the Bala Dzhafarli village of the Gazakh District
from positions located in Aigovit village of the Idzhevan District of
Armenia for 15 minutes starting at 10:30 p.m. Armenians fired machine
guns and other automatic weapons. There is no report about losses.
Meanwhile, Dzhafarov says that there is nothing supernatural in
periodic breaches of the ceasefire agreement. The military expert warns
that "this has been happening since the two parties have reached an
agreement on a ceasefire and the beginning of a peaceful negotiation
process. However, this kind of incident will continue to happen in the
future if nothing changes." Along with this, Dzhafarov remarks that the
army command of Azerbaijan and Armenia, being directly subordinated
to the presidents, uses the facts of ceasefire agreement breaches in
their own way and, usually, in their own favor.
He adds: "There is nothing surprising in this because the matter is
not about intensive fighting but only about a firing exchange that
usually stops after a smattering of response fire."
According to him, if the Armenian party starts firing first, this
does not mean that it will start an offensive tomorrow. "Moreover,
it is necessary to bear in mind that in the summer season, servicemen
leave the dugouts and are actually under the open sky; that is why the
quantity of such incidents grows in summer." According to Dzhafarov,
it is also necessary to bear in mind that the facts of the ceasefire
regime breaches may be exaggerated because the meeting of presidents of
Azerbaijan and Armenia dedicated to resolving of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict will take place between June 9 and 10.
Incidentally, officials of the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan refused
to comment on this issue.