Azerbaijan to pay heavy price for new war attempt over Karabakh – deputy FM

Any attempt by Azerbaijan to escalate the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh into a new war will deliver a heavy blow to the country, says Shavarsh Kocharyan, a deputy foreign minister of Armenia.

At a news conference on Wednesday, the official addressed the recent war threats voiced by the Azerbaijani president, criticizing the country’s leadership for “misusing the peace negotiations for aggressive purposes”. “Azerbaijan is practically pursuing completely different policies, spreading its propaganda in an effort to distort the essence of the entire conflict. It is misrepresenting the self-determination issue as a territorial dispute to create a breeding ground for achieving a military solution,” he said.

Commenting on the April escalations that led to the four-day war, Kocharyan said he feels the aggression too, resulted from the Azerbaijani authorities’ awkward policies resulting from misunderstandings. “The April [events] demonstrated the impotence of their blitzkrieg plan. It is another matter we too, had certain imperfections, but we are now undertaking steps towards normalizing all that. Should such an attempt be ever made, I am sure the outcome will be heavier for Azerbaijan,” he added.