21/07/2014 19:45
Hovhannisyan: L. Ter-Petrosyan’s statements cause double perplexity
On his Facebook page, Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman Artsrun Hovhanisyan has commented on the interview of first Armenian President, leader of the opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK) Levon Ter-Petrosyan.
Levon Ter-Petrosyan on July 21 gave an interview to iLur.am, discussing the tense situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, Armenia’s foreign policy, the Karabakh conflict settlement, etc.
“The assessment of the Armenian side’s retaliatory actions to Azerbaijan’s provocative acts as restrained and disproportionate causes double perplexity. Given the fact that on the Line of Contact the Armenian armed forces do not reply to the Azerbaijani side’s desultory fire and punish only for aimed fire, which was stated repeatedly by Armenian defense minister, as well as the fact the Armenian side has never aggravated the situation without reason, the response of the Armenian side can indeed be called restrained.
As regards disproportion, this assessment is absolutely unacceptable as even simple monitoring of official news flow can reveal the main index – the real picture of casualties of the conflicting parties.
When addressing the forms and methods of presentation of these casualties by various media outlets (unlike the Armenian side, the Azerbaijani side often substantiates its losses by various fabricated reasons), one should take into account the fact that it is a result of civilizational and moral differences.
Any military situation is a dilemma for commanders, while in our case it has existed since 1994. By the way, since then, thanks to ‘serious efforts and tricks’ it has been possible to curb ambitions of the Azerbaijani authorities and keep a balance of forces to prevent the enemy from gaining a strategic and tactical advantage.
As a result of efficient performance of the tasks set before the army, the threat of a resumption of hostilities is removed, which enables to seek political solutions to the problem. We think such conclusions do not promote efforts and goals in the information confrontation either,” A. Hovhannisyan wrote.