Nagorno-Karabakh is not aggressor, but will strike back against possible threats, says presidential spokesperson

Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) never poses itself off as an agressor but it will strike back against any attack whenever it sees a real threat, a spokeserson for President Bako Sahakyan said Monday, commenting on the recent border incident in the country's north-east.

Speaking to Tert.am, David Babakyan said they treat Azerbaijan as a terrorist country “not abandoning its abnormal anti-Armenian policy line”.

“The alternative to freezing and torpedoing the negotiation process is war,” he said, admitting at the same time that any loss caused by the repeated border incidents is a big tragedy for the Armenian side.

“But we need to be cool-blooded in certain situations – it’s a terrible thing, the worst thing that can ever happen. Yet, we need also the understanding that the alternative is the loss of statehood, and [a crime of] genocide. Our neighbor is not Luxemburg, after all, to allow us to reach certain agreements and wait until they all are called to life,” he said.

Babayan also stressed the importance of a strong reaction by the international community. “It is very important to implement the Vienna and St Petersburg arrangements not to exclude them from the agenda,” the spokesperson said.

In his words, the current situation around Karabakh is in the Azerbaijani leadership’s interests. “[Azerbaijani President Ilham] Aliyev has intentionally developed stereotypes around the Artsakh issue. And Taking certain steps in this situation would hit also his reputation, considering also the recent scandal, i.e. – ‘the Azerbaijani laundromat’,” Babayan said.