News from Karabagh

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KARABAKH TRUCE BREAKS DOWN
Clash on ceasefire line coincides with mediators' visit to region.

By Samira Ahmedbeyli in Baku and Ashot Beglarian in Stepanakert

Armenian and Azerbaijani officials are giving sharply different accounts of a skirmish in the Fizuli

region near the ceasefire line dividing their two forces.

Both sides acknowledge that one Azerbaijani soldier, 20-year-old Orkhan Shamilov, died in the

incident on the night of November 16 - but each accuses the other of being responsible for the

exchange of fire just outside Nagorny Karabakh.

Azerbaijani ministry of defence spokesman Eldar Sabiroglu said that Shamilov, who had been

on watch that night, had responded to gunfire coming from an Armenian unit on the other side of

the so-called "line of contact" established in 1994 that divides the two armed forces.

Sabiroglu said that after several minutes of firing, Shamilov had attacked and killed two Armenians

but had himself been killed. The Armenians recovered their bodies but were unable to recover that

of Shamilov.

On November 19, the Armenians handed over the body of Shamilov.

In Karabakh, the Armenian side describes the incident as the second serious violation of the

ceasefire this year - following a battle on March 3-4 which left around a dozen people dead

- and puts the blame on the Azerbaijanis.

Senor Hasatrian, spokesman for the Karabakh armed forces (a term the Azerbaijani side

does not accept), said that there had been an Azerbaijani attack on Armenian positions,

"On November 16, at approximately 4 am, a special unit of the Azerbaijani army crossed

a section of the line of contact dividing the armed forces of Nagorny Karabakh and

Azerbaijan in the south-east and tried to attack positions not far from the village of Ashagi

Seidakhmedli."

Hasatrian said that the Armenian side had repulsed the attack and the Azerbaijanis had

retreated, leaving the body of one of their mean behind. He said that his side had not

suffered any dead or wounded.

Karabakh president Bako Saakian awarded medals to the Armenian soldiers for

repulsing an Azerbaijani attack.

Hasatrian emphasised that the attack had come at the moment when the American,

French and Russian negotiators on the Karabakh conflict - the so-called Minsk Group

- were visiting the region to try and build on momentum made after the November 2

Moscow declaration signed by the presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia.

In the declaration, the leaders committed themselves to a peaceful resolution of the

conflict and to confidence-building measures.

In Karabakh, the incident has prompted widespread debate and condemnation of

Azerbaijan.

Analyst David Karabekian told IWPR, "The incident demonstrates the essential need

for strengthening the steps set out in the Moscow declaration, namely the formation of

a system of international security for Nagorny Karabakh; the recognition that it is

impossible to make any further steps to settle the conflict without signing a legally binding

document between Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nagorny Karabakh; the acceptance by all

sides of the conflict of a treaty strengthening the ceasefire regime; and implementing

confidence building measures."

Albert Voskanian, a leading human rights activist in Karabakh, said the incident showed

how vulnerable the 1994 ceasefire was. "A fragile peace ought not to be broken and

a new war will bring still more human casualties," he said.

"As a person who knows about war at first hand and who has been dealing with the

problems of prisoners of war, hostages and missing people from the years of the war

to this day, I condemn any attempt to destabilise the situation. The recent incident must

be on the conscience of its organisers, all the more so as today we can observe certain

steps forward in attempts to resolve the Karabakh issue."

"It's almost 15 years since the ceasefire but the explosive situation continues in a frozen

form," said war veteran Sergei Khachikian. "People continue to die from accidental

explosions, shots, attacks. I don't know how long this situation of 'no war, no peace'

will continue. I only beg God one thing: may our children have different lives from ours!

We've seen too much blood!"

Azerbaijani military expert Uzeir Jafarov urged caution about the significance

of the incident.

"In my view the ceasefire regime is broken regularly along the whole line, more in

some places, less in others," said Jafarov. "The only exception is Nakhichevan,

where you could say that there is no shooting between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

It's just that the public is better informed now about these incidents."

Jafarov said that the armed forces on each side tended to use incidents like this

for their own benefit and that they were more inclined to release information on

them when the Minsk Group mediators were visiting the region.

"In general, the ceasefire regime gets broken for political reasons," he said.

"The military, headed by the ministers of defence are just people who act a

ccording to political orders."

Samira Ahmedbeyli is a freelance journalist in Baku. Ashot Beglarian is a

freelance journalist in Nagorny Karabakh. The terminology used in this article

to describe the conflict was chosen by IWPR and not by the authors.

WPS Agency, Russia
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
November 21, 2008 Friday
BAKU IS WORRIED BY INFORMATION ABOUT REPAIR OF ARMENIAN TANKS IN
TBILISI

Azerbaijan expresses concern about information that armored vehicles
of the armed forces of Armenia would be repaired in Georgia. During
the recent visit of the Defense Minister of Armenia to Georgia the
parties agreed not only on the transit of military cargoes to Armenia
via Georgia but also on repair of armored vehicles. Previously,
Armenian armored vehicles were already repaired in Tbilisi at the
former tank repair plant of the group of Russian forces in
Transcaucasia. So far, the Defense Ministry of Georgia does not
comment on this information.


Source: Vzglyad, November 19, 2008, p. EV
Translated by InterContact

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