Settlement talks without Karabakh irrational: spokesman

PanARMENIAN.Net - Return to Karabakh’s Soviet-era borders and status is impossible, Karabakh (Artsakh) President’s spokesperson said, according to Panorama.am.

As Davit Babayan noted, the large-scale war in 1991-1994 was unleashed due to Karabakh's seemingly weak borders.

“Such a thing will never happen again,” Babayan said.

"Karabakh's insisting on being fully involved in negotiations, is not an ultimatum. This war, as well, proved that the conflict can’t be resolved without Karabakh. Conducting negotiations without us isn’t reasonable,” he noted.

According to Babayan, all sides should learn a thing or two from the recent four-day clashes.

“The battles showed that the settlement of the conflict by force has no perspective and is fraught with unpredictable consequences. The international community is obliged to take a tough stance on Azerbaijan's policies,” he said.

“We stand for a peaceful settlement, but that doesn’t mean we’re weak and unable to protect our homeland, freedom and dignity.”

The parties to the Karabakh conflict agreed on a bilateral cessation of fire along the contact line which came into force at midday, April 5.

Prior to that, on the night of April 1-2, Azerbaijani armed forces initiated overt offensive operations in the southern, southeastern and northeastern directions of the line of contact with Nagorno Karabakh.

As many as 64 Armenian solders were killed, 122 more were wounded.

As of April 5, the Azerbaijani side has lost 26 tanks and 4 infantry fighting vehicles, as well as 1 BM-21 Grad multipl e rocket launcher, 1 engineering vehicle, 2 military helicopters and 14 unmanned aerial vehicles. The Azerbaijani side has admitted the loss of 31 fighters, 1 helicopter and 1 unmanned drone, whereas the Armenian side's photo and video materials show dozens of killed Azerbaijani troops, 1 helicopter and 3 UAVs. Opposition media outlets, however, reported on the death of 95 Azerbaijani soldiers, stating that 39 more have been wounded. According to Karabakh authorities, 300 Azerbaijani soldiers were killed in clashes.

14 Karabakh tanks have been neutralized since April 2.