What happened on the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia? Comment from Baku
Escalation on the Azerbaijan-Armenia border
Both Azerbaijan and Armenia suffered casualties in the clash on April 11. Baku and Yerevan accuse each other of provoking the incident, but what really happened on the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia? According to political observer Haji Namazov, unlike other clashes, this time we literally saw the whole beginning of everything that happened.
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Expert comment
“As before, in any clashes between the armies of Azerbaijan and Armenia, the defense ministries of both countries accuse the other side of provocation.
But unlike other clashes, this time we saw literally the beginning of everything that happened, thanks to a rather long video that got onto social networks.
What is seen in the footage partly explains the statements made by both Baku and Yerevan. But it is necessary to start the analysis from the root cause.
So three posts of the Azerbaijani army are located in the village of Tegh (or Dyg, as it was called before). This happened after the Azerbaijani Armed Forces redeployed at the end of March in order to close the entrance to the old Lachin corridor.
Since that day, Armenia has been claiming that the Azerbaijanis have violated the sovereign territory of this country, and are calling on Azerbaijan to withdraw.
Here some questions arise. Where is the border there? It does not exist de jure, and de facto no one knows exactly where it is. In other words, no one will tell you for sure whether the Azerbaijani army actually crossed the border.
The Armenians appeal to the fact that here is the village of Tegh, an Armenian village, therefore this is Armenia. But here I would not rush to conclusions. And I’ll tell you why:
- There has never been a state border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. There was an administrative border between these Soviet republics, and it changed many times, sometimes even without making changes to the maps, according to local economic initiatives.
- During the 30 years of occupation of the territories of Azerbaijan, the Armenians considered the entire border up to the line of contact as their territory, and once border villages and settlements expanded towards the occupied lands. In other words, the Armenian villages, objects have already partly crossed the border in some places.
- An excellent example of this is the airfield in Kapan, part of which falls on the territory of Azerbaijan. This airfield was built during the years of occupation. Or that road, part of which came under the control of Azerbaijan, and where a customs post was established almost immediately after the 44-day war.
- Those cards that we now see on various sites and other sources, with a high degree of probability, cannot claim the truth in the first instance. It will not be difficult for trained specialists to remake the lines there.
So, there are three Azerbaijani military posts in the village of Tegh. And suddenly, a few meters from one of them, the Armenian army begins to dig a trench with special equipment.
I emphasize that it is not the border guards who are standing there, but the army. Border guards are relatively peaceful people, and there are always a few meters between two border guard posts. But here are the military. And the military personnel have orders to open fire at any attempt of provocation from the opposite side. Why not a provocation of engineering work right under your nose?
I want to repeat that all this is visible in the footage captured by the Armenian side.
But the Azerbaijanis do not immediately open fire, they go to negotiations. Something goes wrong there, a crowd is formed, the reason for which is not clear due to the poor quality of the video. What happened next, we do not know. We don’t have hard facts anymore. The video cuts out at that point. For what reason, I don’t know.
Here’s everything that happened yesterday, in detail. Yes, it is necessary to avoid confrontation, shooting, victims. Any kind of provocation of the opposing side must be avoided.
But no matter how cynical it may sound with the existing victims on both sides, there is a blessing in disguise. Already today we have heard three reports at once about the upcoming negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, both at the level of foreign ministers and at the level of state leaders. Both from Moscow and from Brussels.
One can only hope that the process of delimitation and demarcation of borders will begin without delay and will take place in a peaceful environment.”
