The Washington Post published David Ignatius’ article on Nagorno Karabakh.
Ignatius writes that the “frozen conflict” exploded on April 2, when Azerbaijani forces attacked across the 200-kilometer front line.
“Karabakh is one of the world’s least-discussed and most intractable quarrels. The mostly Armenian population violently seceded from Azerbaijan in a two-year war. Since then, Russia, France and the United States have sponsored a mediation effort, but it has been fruitless: Azerbaijan demands that land once inside its borders be returned; the Armenians insist they aren’t leaving. Rather than softening over time, anger seems to be hardening on both sides,” Ignatius writes.
During his visit to Karabakh, Ignatius also spoke to Lt. Gen. Levon Mnatsakanyan, the defense minister of this self-declared republic.
‘Tactically, maybe they have registered some successes. But I would say that considering all the force they used, it’s rather a defeat for them,’ said Mnatsakanyan, commenting on the Four Day War.
According to Ignatius, Armenian troops could defend the enclave, without Russian help.
‘The result of the four-day war shows that the equipment we have and our combat readiness is okay for stopping any adversaries. If the war resumes we will not only repel them but advance ourselves,’ Mnatsakanyan told the journalist.
“On the road to the airport, a visitor can see the national monument, a huge stone statue of an old man and woman — heads only, the bodies seemingly buried in the hillside. The official name is ‘We Are Our Mountains’. The implicit message is: We aren’t moving. What seems ahead is a long, unyielding conflict,” sums up David Ignatius.
http://www.panorama.am/en/news/2016/04/27/The-Washington-Post-Artsakh/1570154
