Epress.am News from Armenia
“I’m more worried about war by accident, not by a decision to go to war, but attacks that grow out of control,” said Armenian Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS) Director Richard Giragosian today, speaking with journalists on Iran, Iran-Armenia relations and “accidental war.”
“The reason is Azerbaijan is using military attacks as a diplomatic strategy,” he said, adding that it’s going to be a mistake just as the Georgian strategy was a mistake.
Strategic logic in Azerbaijan is weak, he said, if they resume war, they will lose 100%.
The analyst, however, said he’s confident that “Armenia will respond and defend against any such threat.”
In Giragosian’s opinion, Armenia shows that it doesn’t want war; however, Azerbaijan always does the opposite. “But the interesting thing is now pressure is all on Azerbaijan, from the world… and from the Minsk Group,” he added.
“Just as President Obama met with Ilham Aliyev and one of the first messages was to warn him against these attacks, and to demand the release of the bloggers, the political prisoners in Azerbaijan,” he said referring to Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli, who were sentenced to two and two-and-a-half years, respectfully, after being arrested in July 2009 for satirizing the government by posting an internet video that showed a donkey giving a press conference.
As for Armenia, Giragosian is more worried and disturbed by the many cases of deaths in Armenia’s armed forces. The analyst turned his attention on the YouTube army hazing video which made waves recently.
“It’s unacceptable and it’s disgusting,” he said.