Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

[Joseph]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

^ Of course Iran wil step in. If there is one country who historically, geographically and ethnically can claim Azeri territory, it is Iran.

That is true, especially Lenkoran, etc.

[Joseph]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

Well, what can we do?
if they are happy liberating settlements they occupy?
Let them be happy with.
One day they may well need to liberate Baku or Sumgayit...

This happened in the late spring of 2002 as well. I'll look for the articles and post later.

Near Aghdam, the Azeris waltzed in to an unoccupied village on flat terrain and claimed its liberation. The Armenians were basically saying be my guest, it is unoccupied for a reason, on really bad/flat terrain and offers no strategic advantage to its occupier. Hey, the have to be thrown a bone every now and then. The Azeri press likes to flout these stories to give the Azeris hope and create a false sense of security.


Here is one:

REPORT ON AZERI ARMY SUCCESSFUL OPERATION IN AGHDAM REGION NOTHING ELSE THAN MISINFORMATION
August 1, 2002 - 19:05 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - The reports of the Azeri media on allegedly «successful operation and 1-kilometer advance» of the Azeri Army in the Aghdam region does not correspond to the reality. Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army press department head, major Senor Hasratian has stated that in his interview with «De-Facto» agency commenting on the «ANS» TV company reports according to which « Aghdam region Yusifjanli village that was controlled by the Nagorno-Karabakh Army was allegedly liberated» as a result of the operation of the Azeri military units. «They just do not want to accept the reality», Hasratian stated.

Even the Azeris eventually admit it did not happen:

AZERBAIJANI DEFENSE MINISTRY REPROT ABOUT VILLAGE "LIBERATING"

Azerbaijani Turan news agency dismissed on August 1 an earlier Report by ANS television station claiming that Azerbaijani armed Forces have taken back a village near the town of Aghdam 42 days ago.

A spokesman for Azerbaijani defense ministry Ramiz Melikov was quoted as saying that the TV station's report and the news in media based on the repot did not correspond to reality. "No village has been taken back and no soldiers were killed in "the battle," he said.

Another make believe incident in late 2002

Reports of Azeri Military Gains A Hoax Say Officials
YEREVAN (RFE/RL-Noyan Tapan)—The Armenian military categorically denied on Wednesday reports that the Azerbaijani army has made territorial gains in fierce fighting along the heavily fortified Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

An Azerbaijani radio station, ANS, claimed that Azerbaijani forces have liberated two Armenian-occupied villages in the country's western Qazakh district without sustaining any casualties. It said, however, that the Defense Ministry in Baku declined to confirm the report.

Responding the report, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Tsiunig Aghadjanian said: "I can say for sure that the Armenian army has not been involved in any military operations along the entire Armenian border recently. Armenian positions have not changed even a millimeter since the very first day of the cease-fire."

"They must be big dreamers," Colonel-General Mikael Harutiunian, chief of staff of the Armenian armed forces, told RFE/RL, denying the claims. He said there have been no major skirmishes along that section of the long frontier over the past two weeks.

Armenian and Azerbaijani troops stationed there reportedly exchanged fire earlier this month. One Armenian officer was shot dead in the cross-border shoot-out.

The two villages mentioned in the BBC-monitored report—Askipara and Baghanis Ayrum—appear to be tiny Azerbaijani enclaves inside Armenia's northeastern Tavush region which were overrun by Armenian forces shortly after the start of the war in Nagorno-Artsax. Another such enclave which belonged to Azerbaijan's Nakhichevan exclave in the Soviet times has also been under Armenian control since 1991.

Azerbaijan likewise captured and effectively annexed an Armenian village located inside its territory in 1992.

Earlier this year, ANS announced the liberation of an Azerbaijani village east of Nagorno-Artsax. The report was later refuted by both the Artsax and Azerbaijani militaries.

© Copyright AZG

[arakeretzig]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

Aliyev scared to chills to hold on to power, which means he's weaker than anyone thinks, because he resorts to border clashes with Armenia, and it's is very telling and desperate.
Giragosian has a point though with the year 2014, it makes sense. But the thing is if Aliyev launches a war and loses, he'll go down anyway. It's a lose-lose situation for him. So he'll try to maintain the status qou as long as he can ( think 2020s), rob as much as he can , and go to exile. if he was smart, he'd do exactly that.

[Joseph]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

Aliyev scared to chills to hold on to power, which means he's weaker than anyone thinks, because he resorts to border clashes with Armenia, and it's is very telling and desperate.
Giragosian has a point though with the year 2014, it makes sense. But the thing is if Aliyev launches a war and loses, he'll go down anyway. It's a lose-lose situation for him. So he'll try to maintain the status qou as long as he can ( think 2020s), rob as much as he can , and go to exile. if he was smart, he'd do exactly that.

True. Which is why Aliyev's contingency plan is to buy up real estate for his family and cronies in Dubai. When the oil flow stops and they lose the next war, he can weasel his way out and continue living the good life

[Joseph]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

Melodrama and hyperbole from Azeris...and one Armenian

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2012/06/08/armenia-azerbaijan-the-karabakh-conflict-breaks-out-again-on-twitter/

Armenia, Azerbaijan: Nagorno Karabakh Conflict Resumes… On Twitter
Posted By Onnik Krikorian On 8 June 2012 @ 10:04 am In Armenia,Azerbaijan,Azerbaijani,Central Asia & Caucasus,Citizen Media,English,Ethnicity & Race,Feature,International Relations,Media & Journalism,Middle East & North Africa,Photos,Turkey,Turkish,War & Conflict,Weblog | 1 Comment

In war, as the old saying goes, the first casualty is always the truth. This is particularly true in the South Caucasus where the media in Armenia and Azerbaijan more often than not spreads misinformation or subjective propaganda concerning the long-running and unresolved conflict over Nagorno Karabakh [1]. Following two high-profile skirmishes along the Line of Conflict (LoC) separating Armenian and Azerbaijani forces at the beginning of the week, that also appears to be the case on Twitter.

Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a war in the early 1990s over the disputed territory, situated within Azerbaijan, but mainly inhabited by ethnic Armenians. Around 30,000 people were killed and over a million forced to flee their homes before a ceasefire agreement was signed in 1994, but efforts to broker a lasting peace have faltered. Some estimates, including those from publications such as The Economist, put the number of fatalities since then at over 3,000, with tensions often escalating as they did earlier this week when 3 Armenian and 5 Azerbaijani soldiers were killed.

Coinciding with a high-profile visit to the region by United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the danger of frontline skirmishes escalating into a new ‘accidental war,' as flagged [2] by the International Crisis Group in early 2011, once again surfaced. Following the clashes on 4 and 5 June, however, those fears were to again materialize in reports and tweets from Azerbaijani social media users on 7 June.

@parvanapersiani [3]: locals've just informed my friend about serious battle between #Azeri and #Armenian troops in occupied territories. what's going on?

@MahirZeynalov [4]: Azerbaijan Defense Ministry reports clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan in ten provinces.

@MahirZeynalov [5]: Armenia-Azerbaijan MT @ErkinGadirli Learned from a serious source there is calmness in Agdam & Fuzuli. Only small skirmish near Goranboy.

[2]
Relics of War, Nagorno Karabakh © Onnik Krikorian

Nevertheless, despite an escalation in tensions, the situation on Twitter soon became more and more sensational.

@MahirZeynalov [6]: MT @vusal ANS reports Azerbaijan retakes Ciraqli village from Armenian troops after clashes.

@vusal [7]: ÇIRAQLI KƏNDİ AZAD EDİLDİ !!!! Mənbə : ANS alt yazı

CHIRAGLI VILLAGE LIBERATED. source: ANS
Others, however, started to doubt the reports given little or no coverage from reliable sources let alone the international media.

@nhacizade [8]: there are rumors *of a report* of a village in the Agdam region (in the buffer zone) taken, with no proof of said report. #Azerbaijan

@mhikaric [9]: MT @nhacizade: been searching for an hour and there are ZERO credible sources/links on the rumors on escalation. #Azerbaijan

@onewmphoto [10]: @mhikaric @nhacizade Indeed, until there's independent news, confirmation, I'm withholding judgement. @joshuakucera @MahirZeynalov @niftiyev

@nhacizade [11]: @onewmphoto @mhikaric @joshuakucera @MahirZeynalov @niftiyev thank you, I wish everyone would be more cautious. stuff spreads like fire.

@MahirZeynalov [12]: ANS TV says Twitter is falsely spreading rumors that Armenian army is advancing against Azerbaijani territories.

Nevertheless, reports soon turned into tweets announcing that a new war between Armenia and Azerbaijan had broken out. Reportedly, this particularly included tweeps in neighboring Turkey.

[Private DM]: great, two hours in the story spread to turkish twitter. people are tweeting about a state of emergency, troops going places, all out war

@Bugrahanboyraz [13]: Yaşasın bütov Azerbaycan ! Long live Great Azerbaijan ! WAR WİTH ARMENİA !

@FirdaousAmri [14]: The war started between Armenia and Azerbaijan!!!

@mervemania [15]: @FirdaousAmri Really !!! Where did u get this information ???

@FirdaousAmri [16]: @mervemania From somebody I know working in the media field and that person learned from his journalist friend living in Baku!

Some Armenians also spread less than credible information.

@AlainTabibian [17]: Armenia and azerbaijan got into a war and russia is bombing azerbaijan. RIP to the 54 armenians who lost their lives

A few calmer heads tried to clarify the situation in their tweets, including those from Azerbaijanis in Turkey eager to defuse tensions by alerting followers that reports of a new war were false.

@onewmphoto [18]: Unconfirmed reports of an Armenian offensive & helicopter gunships engaging (http://bit.ly/MgS6LR)? Please. It would be international news.

@nhacizade [19]: @onewmphoto this is getting too funny. defence (sic).az is quoting azeridefence (another sic).com and everyone is retweeting.

@ZaurShiriyev [20]: There is escalation in the #Armenia - #Azerbaijan conflict, but not yet open war. Only false rumors and disinformation. #Karabakh #Caucasus

@muntezir [21]: Azerbaycan Ermenistan savaşı resmen ilan edilmiş- diye twit atılıyor. Öyle bir şey yok arkadaşlar! Lütfen yalan haberlere kanmayalım! RT pls

There are tweets going around about Azerbaijan-Armenia war being officially announced. There is no such thing, friends. Please, do not buy into false news. RT pls
@nhacizade [22]: #Azerbaijan seems to be having first of its many twitter-spread rumor frenzies, except it's about war so people need to be more sensible.

@nhacizade [23]: tonight's news: star shoots over the Caucasus, Russia tests missile, the entire Near East goes berserk as if they needed an excuse. bye now!

That tensions are increasing on the Line of Contact (LoC) between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces is not in doubt. However, Twitter appears to run the risk of potentially becoming a new instrument for increasing them further.

Thanks to Global Voices Azerbaijan author Pervin Muradli [24] for the translations from Azerbaijani into English.
Article printed from Global Voices: http://globalvoicesonline.org

URL to article: http://globalvoicesonline.org/2012/0...azerbaijan-the

[Spetsnaz]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani soldier hits mine


[ 08 Jun 2012 11:12 ]
Baku. Hafiz Heydarov – APA. A soldier of the Azerbaijani Army hit a mine.

APA reports that the incident was recorded in Tovuz frontline.

Soldier of the National Army, Saadetdin Muslum Mammadov, 19, died as a result of mine explosion in the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops.

Spokesman for the Defense Ministry Teymur Abdullayev confirmed the fact to APA.

Mammadov was drafted from Goranboy Region Military Commissariat.

apa.az

[Joseph]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

Azeri source:


Azerbaijani Defense Ministry: “There is no need for mobilization”


Baku – APA. “In my opinion, there is no need for mobilization”, spokesman for the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan Eldar Sabiroglu told APA commenting on the reports which claim that Azerbaijan will declare mobilization.

Sabiroglu said Azerbaijan has well-organized army that can successfully overcome any extreme situation. “The last gun battles in the frontline proved it. The enemy, who doesn’t like to confess the high-degree alert of our Armed Forces, knows it well. The enemy attempts to elevate its voice, but this voice is not its own, it is based on external sources”, Sabiroglu said.

Allow me to translate: We went too far and it is time for us to cool down, Armenia responded, actually it was RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, damn them!!!

[Hovo]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

[Surenas]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

That is true, especially Lenkoran, etc.

Exactly, Lenkoran is in the Talysh region, inhabited by Iranian people (Talysh). En besides that, I don't Iran think Iran likes more Russian influence, in despite of the relatively good relations with them, in the caucasus en especially not if a big superpower like Russia will sit on the borders of Iran.

[Joseph]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

Official Casualties:

http://emedia.am/images/B10Evy4EjYPzcE7Il46iCSGx1H.jpg

http://emedia.am/ru/-2-17921

For larger image press HERE (3000px)
On April, 25th, village Doveg: bombardment of village, the school and a kindergarten have suffered; on April, 27th, road Movses-Ajgepar: three unarmed Armenian soldier have been killed as a result of an ambush arranged by the Azerbaijan militarians; on May, 30th, неркин Кармирахпюр: the peace inhabitant worked in a vineyard has been wounded; on June, 4th: an attack of Azerbaijanians in a direction of villages Chinari and Бердаван in Тавушской areas. In Бердаване one person was lost and one is wounded, In Чинари - two were lost also five are wounded. On June, 5th: the Azerbaijan party has tried to organize new diversion in village Ashagi Аскипара. Five person were lost with азербадйжанской the parties, from the Armenian party of victims is not present. On informal data, losses of Azerbaijan make 8-20 person. On June, 6th, area Akstafinsky: two Azerbaijan employees, according to МО Азербадйжана, were lost as a result of falling a concrete plate. The Armenian experts and some Azerbaijan sites speak about attempt to hide destruction the soldier as a result of collision with the Armenian party; on June, 6th, village Kochi: the Armenian positions are subjected to bombardment; on June, 6th: the Azerbaijan party tries to organize diversion in a direction of the city of Chambarak (region Gegarkunik). The Armenian divisions stop promotion of the opponent. Victims and wounded from the Armenian party are not present.