DM Ohanyan: Armenia Maintains Efforts for Peaceful Settlement of Karabakh Conflict

YEREVAN (Combined Sources) –The military-political leadership of Armenia maintains efforts to reach the settlement of the Karabakh conflict through peaceful means, Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan said at a meeting with the presidency of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences.

The Minister added, however, that the rival refuses to work constructively and continues to violate the ceasefire agreement.

“The rival is consistently aggravating the situation to solve certain domestic problems on one hand, and to exert pressure on the Armenian side on the international arena in order to grab unilateral concessions,” Minister Ohanyan said.

“We’re afraid of war, but we’re not afraid of fighting, i.e. we are ready to protect Armenia and Artsakh – a sacred part of our country. The Armenian Ministry of Defense is preparing for war every day,” the Defense Minister said.

Ohanyan added that the Ministry always stands ready to resist possible aggression, preparing itself for a war in its daily activities. “What I see at the top of that preparedness is the activities of the Defense Ministry, its General Headquarters and adjunct bodies. But the existing politico-military situation, and the regional and international developments do not herald the possibility of a large-scale war; we do all our best to restrain those ambitions through creating national and international guarantees. But should the military operations [resume], we will have to unconditionally defend our fatherland,” he added.

The Defense Minister assured that Armenia’s political and military leadership have carried serious work towards the acquisition of modern weapons and military equipment. “People often want to know what kinds of weapons we have acquired. My response is that we have no deviations in our plans. Our military and technical cooperation provides development of military equipment. We acquire modern long- range precision weapons. And I consider the less there are questions on the mentioned above, the more we will easily conduct our tasks,” Ohanyan emphasized.