"Was Aliyev right?" On the withdrawal of the Armenian Armed Forces from Nagorno-Karabakh
Withdrawal of the Armenian Armed Forces from Nagorno-Karabakh
“In the course of the war, a number of units of the Armenian Armed Forces moved to Nagorno-Karabakh. They are returning to Armenia, the process will be completed in September. The Defense Army was and continues to stay in Nagorno-Karabakh,” said Armen Grigoryan, Secretary of the Armenian Security Council, in response to the latest statement by the President of Azerbaijan.
According to Ilham Aliyev, Moscow promised Baku that the Armenian military units would be withdrawn from Nagorno-Karabakh by June 2022, but the issue has not been resolved yet.
Political scientist Tigran Grigoryan believes that the Secretary of the Security Council made “very problematic and dangerous” statements, one of which “actually says that Aliyev was right all this time, and we were not.”
Response of the Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia to Aliyev’s statements, along with an expert’s comment.
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“The process of withdrawal of the Armenian Armed Forces from Nagorno-Karabakh will be completed in September”
According to Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia, Armen Grigoryan, Nagorno-Karabakh’s security will be ensured by the Defense Army, same as before, while the Russian peacekeeping forces deployed here should be a guarantee of security.
“The presence of peacekeeping forces in itself testifies to Russia’s recognition of the existence of a real danger to the life of Nagorno-Karabakh’s population. Peacekeeping forces are of key importance in ensuring the security of NK Armenians,” said Armen Grigoryan in an interview with Armenpress.
The Secretary of the Security Council stressed that since September there would be no conscripts from Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh.
As he says, residents of Nagorno-Karabakh will be drafted into the Defense Army. Contract servicemen will continue serving in the armed forces of NK, as they used to do previously.
Armen Grigoryan considers the withdrawal of the Armenian Armed Forces logical after the establishment of a ceasefire and the deployment of Russian peacekeeping forces in Nagorno-Karabakh.
He says that units of the Armenian Armed Forces have moved to Nagorno-Karabakh to help the Defense Army. After the armistice has been established, they are returning to Armenia, and this process will be completed in September. Nagorno-Karabakh will have its own army, as it used to in the past.
Aliyev’s statement about “Moscow’s promises”
On July 15, Ilham Aliyev spoke at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers, also touching upon the Armenian-Azerbaijani relations.
“If Armenia does not want to withdraw its armed formations from the territory of Azerbaijan, then let them openly tell us about this, so that we know what to do. What will be our answer? It is probably inappropriate to say this now,” said the President of Azerbaijan.
He stressed that this issue was also raised during meetings with the Russian military leadership. According to Aliyev, a few months ago, a high-ranking representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, while in Baku, promised the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry that by June the Armenian armed formations would be withdrawn from Karabakh. However, the problem has not yet been resolved.
Commentary
According to political scientist Tigran Grigoryan, the purpose of the interview with the Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia is to mitigate the threats coming from Baku. At the same time, the political scientist says: the fact that there will be no conscription from Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh is not news to anyone.
Announcing the withdrawal of troops in September, the Secretary of the Security Council negates the assertions of the Armenian side that since the end of the war there are no Armenian Armed Forces units in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“By the way, these assertions of the Armenian side were also confirmed in the reports of authoritative international organizations,” stresses Tigran Grigoryan.
He claims there really are no units of the Armenian Armed Forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the conscripts drafted from Armenia will soon be demobilized.
Political scientist regards the statement of the Secretary of the Security Council as “extremely problematic and dangerous.” In his opinion, Armen Grigoryan “actually legitimizes the destructive behavior of Azerbaijan in the recent period”:
“This is a real gift for Azerbaijan, whose propaganda machine is already actively distributing the interview. Not only does not this statement reduce the danger of war, but, as Nikol Pashinyan said, it legitimizes the war. This statement actually says that Aliyev was right all this time, and we were not.”
Withdrawal of the Armenian Armed Forces from Nagorno-Karabakh
