Analyst: Armenia's strikes on Azerbaijani cities - attempt to drag CSTO in conflict
By Trend
Armenia's strikes on the Azerbaijani cities of Ganja, Mingachevir, Khizi and the Absheron region are no more than an attempt to drag the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) into the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Kazakhstan's political analyst Aidos Sarym told Trend.
"Armenia's actions, it seems to me, are understandable and pursue several goals. First of all, it is an attempt to destabilize the situation inside Azerbaijan, draw as many people as possible into a state of uncertainty. The aim is simple: to sow fear and uncertainty in the future in the people," he said.
Sarym noted also that another point of these strikes is connected with the desire to force the Azerbaijani army to retaliate, primarily on the territory of Armenia.
"In this case, the Armenian propaganda will be able to talk about "direct aggression","war crimes" and so on in order to draw Russia into the conflict, appeal to the CSTO, the world community. Everything that happens must be documented as much as possible, the world press and external observers must be involved," he said.
He added that a large-scale information war is also being waged today as history shows that victories in information wars mean no less victories in actual wars.
Armenian Armed Forces launched a large-scale military attack on positions of Azerbaijani army on the front line, using large-caliber weapons, mortars and artillery on Sept. 27.
Azerbaijan responded with a counter-offensive along the entire front. As a result of retaliation, Azerbaijani troops liberated a number of territories previously occupied by Armenia, as well as take important, strategic heights under control.
The fighting continued into October 2020, in the early days of which Armenia launched missile attacks on Azerbaijani cities of Ganja, Mingachevir, Khizi as well as Absheron district.
On October 6th, at about 9 pm (GMT+4), Armenian Armed Forces launched missiles at Azerbaijani Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, the largest strategic project in the region, which plays an important role in Europe's energy security. Azerbaijani army was able to disable the missiles in the air, so no damage was done to the pipeline.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on the withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
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