Following the trilateral meeting between Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin in Sochi on August 10, Armenia’s President Sargsyan gave an interview to ArmNews TV. Here we present a portion from that interview.
Speaking of the Azerbaijani threats directed against Armenia, President Serzh Sargsyan stated that the Azerbaijani leadership is very well aware of Armenia’s capabilities. “Yes, I say it without any fear, Azerbaijan’s armed forces could ‘reach’ Yerevan from Nakhichevan if hostilities begin, but such things cannot remain unpunished, and the Azerbaijani leadership knows very well what resources the Armenian armed forces have. They are very well aware that we have ballistic missiles with an effective range of over 300 km, and that they are capable of turning into ruins any flourishing settlement in a glimpse, like the ruins of Aghdam,” the president said, noting that it is a question of choice. “If these people are so reckless as to resort to full-scale hostilities and even make a target of non-border inland settlements of Armenia, then I would advise them to think of responsibility.”
Referring to the losses on both sides as a result of the tense escalation of violence along the Line of Contact, the president added that he has instructed the Minister of Defense to release to the Armenian press, the names of not only the Armenian soldiers who were killed, but also the Azerbaijani ones “so that people can more objectively see which side has lost more soldiers.” The Armenian president went on to say, “Those in Azerbaijan keep saying that the hostilities caused greater losses on the Armenian side than on their side, and that we are concealing our losses. I do not think that anybody in our society thinks that way. It is impossible to conceal the loss of a soldier, especially in our society.”
“Personally, I do not feel great joy at Azerbaijan’s losses, but I do feel great pride for our boys. The most important thing for me is that we avoid suffering losses. I do not think too much about their losses. In the meantime, their society should be aware of the adverse consequences of such irreverent attitude to warfare or hostilities. War is a bad thing,” President Sargsyan said and added, “Both incidents are bad, so we have to be very careful and, of course, we should always keep focus on our brave boys, their friends, relatives, children, parents who have given their lives to ensure both in the past and now that our people have trust in our armed forces.”
During the last two weeks there was an escalation of tensions along the Karabakh-Azerbaijan Line of Contact and along the state border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which resulted in over two dozen casualties, mainly the Azerbaijani side.
