REPRESENTATIVE OF GENERAL STAFF OF RA ARMED FORCES: SITUATION ON CONTACT LINE OF ARMENIAN AND AZERI ARMED FORCES IN TAVUSH SECTION REMAINS TENSE
arminfo
2008-04-29 17:19:00
ArmInfoThe number of cases of cease-fire violation in Tavush section
of the contact line of Armenian and Azeri armed forces is increasing,
Colonel Andranik Mkrtumyan, the head of the frontier representation
of the General Staff of RA Armed Forces, said during a conference in
Tavush’s regional administration, Tuesday, on the eve of the OSCE
monitoring. The conference was attended by the field assistants of
Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk
– Imre Palatinus, Irzi Aberle and Zhaslan Nurtazin, Governor of Tavush
region Armen Ghularyan, as well as representatives of Armenian foreign
ministry and defense ministry.
According to Mkrtumyan, Azerbaijan violates the cease-fire regime
regularly and in rare cases Armenia has to open a return fire. The
situation remains tense, and three wounded soldiers since the beginning
of 2008 is direct of evidence of this. In 2007, in the same section of
the contact line 7 people were wounded, 1 person died. The commander
of the Ijevan regiment said that the number of shooting attacks on
borderline villages and roads in the Ijevan section of the contact
line increased in March-April 2008.
"For instance, 130 cartridge shells were registered in February,
550 – in March, 370 – in April. After the previous OSCE monitoring
in November 2007, 17 shells were registered in December, 180 –
in January", he said. The Voskepar-Kirants road is attacked most
frequently, this endangers the lives of civilians using this road. At
the same time, he pointed out that Azerbaijan fortifies its stations
and supplies them with additional arms.
For his part, Governor of Tavush region Armen Ghularyan brought
specific examples concerning the recent shooting attacks. According to
him, a soldier was wounded as a result of the Feb 29 shooting attack
on the Noyemberyan section of the contact line, a similar case took
place in Berkavan section on March 31. The battalion chief’s car was
attacked in Barekamavan on March 24. Cars with civilians were attacked
on the Voskepar-Baghanis road on April 1.