6 years ago, on these days, you could find the pages of the majority of Facebook users in Armenia TavushStrong the hashtag.

On July 12, 2020, on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, in the direction of Tavush region, fierce battles began, which were considered the hottest in 2016. after the April war. civilians and settlements were also targeted.

According to official data, everything started with an attempt by the servicemen of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan to violate the state border of Armenia with a UAZ car.

The case had happened in the interpositional space between the Armenian Movses and Azerbaijani Aghdam villages.

Moreover, when RA Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan presented what happened to Nikol Pashinyan during the government session on July 13, the latter, for some reason, decided that “it is possible that the Azerbaijani soldiers have gone astray”, to which the minister responded that his impression was wrong.

After a short time, unofficial channels announced the occupation of new, more favorable positions by the Armenian side. In particular, we are talking about liberating the position called “Fearless”, which is located on the “Gharadash” hill, which was later attacked unsuccessfully by Azerbaijanis.

On July 14, 2020, Pashinyan at the RA Ministry of Defense were introduced The punitive steps of the RA Armed Forces, especially the 3rd Army Corps under the leadership of Grigory Khachaturov.

By the way, in May 2024 168.amwith in the conversation Former Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia Davit Tonoyan noted that “The July 2020 battles in Tavush and the February 2019 operations that preceded it were carried out based on the strategic logic of strengthening RA’s positions.”

And in 2020 According to the official data of July 16, Azerbaijan had 13 victims (12 soldiers and 1 civilian), and the Armenian side 4 victim: Major Garush Hambardzumyan, Captain Sos Elbakyan, junior sergeants Grisha Matevosyan and Smbat Gabrielyan.

Later, on July 27, contract soldier Ashot Mikayelyan, who played a major role in the July battles and the liberation of “Anvakh” position, was also killed by enemy sniper fire.

The topic of the July battles and the destruction of high-ranking Azerbaijani military personnel will be examined was an object even during the Baku “trial”.

It should be noted that during the July battles, in particular, Azerbaijan lost the Chief of Staff of its Third Army Corps, Major General Polad Hashimov, as well as the Chief of Artillery of the Third Army Corps, Colonel Ilgar Mirzaev and other officers.

And later, the mother of the Azerbaijani general Polad Hashimov had announced, that in fact his son was “killed” by Kerim Veliyev, the current head of the General Staff of Azerbaijan, who was the country’s deputy defense minister at that time, that is, based on various motives, the military leadership of Azerbaijan sent Polad Hashimov to the place of combat operations, calculating that he would not return from there.

For a long time, Aliyev and his family have paid special attention to the mother of the destroyed Azerbaijani general, and her sharp interviews are almost impossible to find on the Internet.

It is worth reminding that during the days of the July battles, Azerbaijan was threatening hit the Metsamor nuclear power plant.

And the RA government? command lowered the RA Armed Forces, the Artsakh Defense Forces, not to target Azerbaijan or foreign infrastructure there.

There were other notable episodes in those days. In the days of the July battles, from the very first moment, Turkey was his expressed support Azerbaijan: foreign affairs and military departments through

At that time Hulusi Akar, head of the Turkish Defense Department, to Armenia had threatened take retaliatory measures that “the death of Azerbaijani soldiers will not go unpunished”.

And Akar’s pre-war threat was almost immediately followed by the Turkish-Azerbaijani military exercises that took place from July 29 to August 12, 2020 in Baku, Ganja, Kurdamir, Evlakh and Nakhichevan, which “influence” In the context of the 44-day war, as well as Turkey’s direct participation in the war and Hulusi Akar himself role playing we we have referred. At the same time, Armenia had suspended Turkey’s inspection visits to Armenia under the treaty on the SDF and the Vienna document.

Let us add that on one occasion Armen Grigoryan, the Secretary of the RA Council of State had confessed that a large-scale war in Artsakh, such as occurred in September 2020, was expected at some point in the summer of the same year, “During the July events, Azerbaijan aimed to immediately move the military operations to the line of contact with Artsakh.”

In these years, the July battles in the Armenian political field were also considered in the context of provocation, including taking into account Nikol Pashinyan’s decision to reward the participants of the July victory in Sardarapat a month before the 44-day anniversary.

Tigran Abrahamyan, secretary of the NA “I have the honor” faction in the conversation with, we tried to understand what happened militarily in July 2020, whether something much more serious was prevented, which is still unknown, especially when Armen Grigoryan, the Secretary of the RA Council of Ministers, admitted that a full-scale war could take place in Artsakh in July itself.

– In a large sense, the July 2020 battles were a test for the parties to understand who could solve what problem with their resources in large-scale operations.

It involved various military types, and the parties, to be honest, were also testing their strengths, both in terms of special-purpose units and unmanned systems, and certain management approaches. And in this review, the 3rd Army Corps of the RA Armed Forces recorded quite good results, and the corps commander Grigori Khachaturov had a rather big role in it.

Because the corps solved a rather big problem in terms of its overall combat ability and performance of operational tasks.

It is another matter that the topic was not discussed in RA in a much deeper context – the confrontation with Azerbaijan and the development of further events, but the government simply took its propaganda component, tried to build a “strong supreme commander” on it, trying to hide the adventurous behavior of the ruling power, the military-political leadership’s actions not in line with the situation. And later, the 44-day war showed that for the government it was not to analyze, study, realize the plans of the situation, political, military and more, but they simply needed it to blow a propaganda bubble and exclusively in domestic life. to use.

–In fact, how much did the July battles and the army’s actions affect the negotiation process, as once hinted Chairman of the National Defense and Security Standing Committee Andranik Kocharyan pointing the arrow at the military. Is it correct to consider those battles only from the point of view of provocation, when a serious problem was solved, or was the provocation in its political presentation? By the way, at the moment, the 3rd Corps has been without a commander for 2 weeks.

– The 3rd Army Corps has fulfilled the task assigned to it, and all the speculations related to that corps, its soldiers, have an internal political component. Because when this government needs them for their propaganda, they honor the military, when the opposite is needed, they target them, which we have seen many times in other cases as well.

– Let’s talk about it demarcation and: demarcation to the process, which expected is yet In Tavush: More,  July 9-in Nicole: Pashinyan journalists with briefing time a lot dangerous wording is արել՝ legitimizing Jermuk azerbaijani the invasion and: there Baku «rights“, when, in particular, he noted that “we are not sew with scissors that the map let’s cut and: ասենք՝ this the section expressed is, no expressed, if scissors let’s take, the map let’s cut, Azerbaijan email Jermuk, Tavushi Harvest sections will cut»:

This why?what? about risks is

– I think that Pashinyan at this stage is resorting to the methods of blackmail that he used many times, and especially during the “border liberation” in Tavush in 2024, in a much more disguised way. Pashinyan’s main messages, in general, although in slightly different wordings, are the same: if we do not give what Azerbaijan demands, then he will solve the issue at his discretion.

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