Provocations on Frontline will Have Strict Response

RA President Serzh Sargsyan’s response to the question of a panorama.am reporter on the incidents of the frontline:

The loss of each Armenian soldier is the loss of our nation. We all mourn their deaths with their families. There is no limit of our appropriate response to the enemy that would ease our grief. I have always said that the provocations on the frontline are very dangerous. I have also said that there will always be a strict response to those. The events of the recent days are also the evidence of that.

Either these provocations have been instigated by the knowledge and instructions of the Azerbaijani leadership, and in this case, they are personally responsible for the violation of the ceasefire mode and the international obligations of Azerbaijan, or the armed forces of this country are out of control of the leadership of Azerbaijan. In that case, we ought to deal with select field commanders and not the organized army.

We don’t have any incentives to apply military force because we think that the only optimal way of the NKR conflict resolution is the negotiation process and that the regulation should stem from the right of self-determination of the people of Artsakh. And as the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group have numerously stated, in order to move forward to the resolution process, the population should be prepared for peace. The Azerbaijani side continues doing the opposite, aiming to distract the attention of the Azeri population from the internal challenges of the country by encouraging animosity.

It is particularly grievous that the provocative actions took place on the very same day when the intelligentsia of Armenia and Azerbaijan were holding a meeting in Moscow, initiated by the Russian Federation, aimed at strengthening the level of trust. Moreover, U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton, was also visiting the region on those days.

We don’t wish exacerbation of the situation but we are not going to leave unreciprocated any actions against our citizens, state borders and Nagorno-Karabakh. The armed forces of Armenia are instructed to demonstrate calmness and vigilance and in the meantime preclude and punish any attempt of provocation. I am confident that the international community and Azerbaijani population understand on whose hands the blood of the victims is.