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Ex-Karabakh Leader Warns Of Another War

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  • Ex-Karabakh Leader Warns Of Another War

    EX-KARABAKH LEADER WARNS OF ANOTHER WAR
    Sargis Harutyunyan

    http://www.azatutyun.am/content/artic le/1998091.html
    30.03.2010

    Samvel Babayan, a former military leader of Nagorno-Karabakh, warned
    on Tuesday of a growing threat of another Armenian-Azerbaijani war
    which he said may break out "at any moment."

    "Things are moving towards the war path because Azerbaijan has the
    impudence to demand everything and refuse to give up anything," Babayan
    told a news conference. "This suggests that it is pushing for war."

    "The situation is really dangerous. The war can start at any moment,"
    he said.

    Babayan, who led Karabakh Armenian forces during much of their
    successful 1991-1994 war with Azerbaijan, claimed that the only factor
    that has prevented renewed fighting so far is what he called a lack
    of Azerbaijani self-confidence.

    "Azerbaijan realizes that if it restarts the war and fails on the
    battlefield, it will lose not just 13-20 percent of its territory but
    maybe 50 percent and that no mediator will be able to stop that,"
    he said. "Mindful of that, it realizes that it should prepare for
    the battle very well."

    The remarks contrasted with a statement made by Armenia's Karabakh-born
    Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian last week. Ohanian, who was also a
    wartime Karabakh military commander, told RFE/RL's Armenian service
    that another war with Azerbaijan is unlikely at this juncture.

    He earlier dismissed continuing Azerbaijani threats to take back
    Karabakh and Azerbaijani territories surrounding it by force.

    Babayan, who has been based in Yerevan since 2005, again predicted
    that the Karabakh peace process will remain deadlocked in the years
    ahead. He also said the international mediators' recently modified
    plan to end the Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute favors Azerbaijan and
    will therefore be rejected by Armenia.

    "As far as I know, [President] Serzh Sarkisian will not opt for such
    mutual concessions," said Babayan. He claimed that the mediators'
    existing proposals are very similar to their 1997 peace plan that
    called for Armenian withdrawal from occupied Azerbaijani districts
    and indefinitely delayed agreement on Karabakh's status.

    Then Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrosian was forced by his key
    ministers and the Karabakh Armenian leadership to resign after
    advocating that plan.
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