Expert blog: Azerbaijan resorts to ‘Olympic trick’

The head of the external relations department of Azerbaijani president’s staff Novruz Mamedov wrote on Twitter that the Olympic Games are considered a generosity check, but this evidently ‘applies to everyone expect the Armenians’ , hinting at Azerbaijani defense ministry’s report that an Azerbaijani serviceman was killed at the frontline as a result of a ceasefire violation.

In addition to the fact that Armenian defense ministry refuted the report as misinformation, there are a number of important circumstances that reveal the incorrect comparison of facts and events by Azerbaijan and their distortion.

First, although the Azerbaijani official claims that the soldier was killed during the Olympic Games, the official statement of Azerbaijani defense ministry said that the ‘incident’ took place around 6:40 pm on February 6, and not on February 7.

Another unclear episode of the ‘incident’ is related to the ‘scene of the incident’. As a rule, the Azerbaijani side indicates the specific direction of frontline incidents or their episodes: it says that the incident took place on the Line of Contact of the Karabakh and Azerbaijani troops or on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and also indicates the settlement at which it happened.
The fact is that the official report concerning this ‘incident’ contains a number of unclear claims that call into question the veracity of the Azerbaijani defense ministry’s report.

It is not ruled out that the serviceman whom the Azerbaijani side attempts to present as an ‘Olympic victim’ was in reality killed by Armenian sniper fire, but evidently it happened earlier than it has been alleged. That soldier might have been killed on the night from January 19 to January 20 during the prevention of Azerbaijani subversive groups and snipers’ provocations, but his body was kept and then presented as a ‘fresh case’.

In connection with the Azerbaijani defense ministry’s report, the U.S. Co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick wrote on Twitter: “Media report the death of an Azerbaijani soldier along the border with Armenia. What happened with the Olympic truce?”
On the one hand the U.S. Co-chair’s concern is quite understandable, given the latest regional visit of the Co-chairs and the ‘Olympic agreement’ reached during it.

On the other hand the American diplomat takes quite a careful and subtle approach to the Azerbaijani defense ministry’s official report, when writing on Twitter: “media report the death”.

In any case, the reports from Azerbaijan, even in the form of official statements, are not taken at face value by the mediators.
Azerbaijan’s mode of action that has undergone only tactical changes in the past 20 years is well-known to the circles engaged in the conflict’s examination and resolution. So the Azerbaijani ‘Olympic trick’ will hardly serve its goal.