01/11/2014 17:30
Ohanyan: Situation worsens on border, Azerbaijan active again
It is hard to expect progress in the exchange of information on prisoners and missing people because of the absence of interstate contacts, Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan told reporters today, when commenting on the agreement on cooperation regarding exchange of information about captives and missing persons – the agreement was reached during the Paris meeting of Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan.
“I am the chairman of the State Commission on POWs and Missing Persons and I should say that it is hard to expect progress in this issue because of the absence of contacts between our states. We work with each other through the mediation of international organizations,” S. Ohanyan said.
According to him, the situation has again worsened on the border, with the Azerbaijani side firing shots more frequently.
The minister stressed the need for confidence building measures as the key precondition for achieving success in any issue.
“We can hope for success only after our neighbors realize that there should be trust between the two countries,” Seyran Ohanyan said, indicating withdrawal of snipers, absence of reconnaissance subversive actions, and international investigation of border incidents as the most important trust building measures.
“We have always been in favor of confidence building, but we always received a negative answer from Azerbaijan. We took unilaterally such actions several times, not returning the fire and doing only defensive tasks. The answer was negative again,” Armenian defense minister said. He reiterated that if Artsakh is endangered, the Armenian side will fight for each inch of its land.