GOHAR ABRAHAMYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter
According to the most recent reports from Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian villagers was killed by sniper fire when working on the land, while the body of a 17-year-old resident of the Karvachar district, who had been missing since July 4 and whose disappearance was linked to the recent sabotage activities of Azerbaijani forces, was found quite a long distance from his community.
According to official reports, Arvid Danielyan, a resident of the Askeran district of the NKR, was operating a tractor in the field when he was fatally shot in the head. A criminal case has been instituted in connection with this killing.
It also became known that the body of 17-year-old Smbat Tsakanyan, from the village of Nor Erkej of the Karvachar district, was found. His parents think their son was kidnapped and then killed by Azeri commandos. Talking to reporters on Tuesday, Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan did not rule out a connection between the teenager’s disappearance and the Azeri infiltration in Karvachar.
An Azeri reconnaissance-sabotage group attempted to penetrate into the Armenian-controlled territory last Wednesday, but its movement was spotted by frontline Karabakh units that managed to thwart the raid. Some of the group members were captured, others fled, according to the report. Later, one of the members of the group that managed to penetrate into Karvachar attacked a car, killing 42-year-old officer Sargis Abrahamyan and wounding the wife of another serviceman, 37-year-old Karine Davtyan. The attacker was later killed by Armenian forces. Two other members of the group were apprehended by Karabakh forces that reported the “neutralization” of all saboteurs on Monday afternoon.
The arrested saboteurs were identified as 46-year-old Shahbaz Guliyev and 56-year-old Dilham Askerov. According to the NKR Prosecutor’s Office, both of them were armed with automatic weapons, pistols with silencers, as well as hand grenades that were used in the reconnaissance-sabotage activities and espionage operations.
It said that a third person, whose personal data were being specified, was killed after showing resistance at the time of his arrest.
Earlier on Tuesday, Armenia’s defense minister also spoke about the criminal case against the Azeri saboteurs, saying that they will answer for their actions according to both Armenian laws and the requirements of international norms.
In response to claims in Azerbaijan that the arrested Azeris should be given prisoner of war status, which means that they are subject to repatriation, the Armenian side said it had ‘irrefutable evidence’ that they were members of a ‘criminal group’ recruited by Azerbaijani authorities for the purpose of carrying out sabotage activities.
Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan, in response to the Azeri application to the International Committee of the Red Cross, said that the order of communication with the members of the Azeri sabotage group would be specified after the publication of the charges brought against them as part of the criminal case.
Meanwhile, the latest Karvachar incidents fueled more speculation in Armenia about the possibility of renewed hostilities in Karabakh. But Deputy Director of the Yerevan-based Caucasus Institute, political analyst Sergey Minasyan said the events in Karvachar are not an indication of a planned full-scale war, as at this moment there is only “a psychological battle of nerves between the two sides” and “these are common signs of military activity, after which there will be a period of relative calm.”
According to political analyst Tigran Abrahamyan, Azerbaijan has made some tactical changes in its steps on the frontline and now the Karabakh resettlement process has become the target for Azeri forces.
“It is known that at various international structures Azerbaijan has constantly raised the issue of Artsakh’s resettlement, stating that the process is contrary to the logic of the negotiations. Realizing that these arguments are devoid of logic and that the war rhetoric does not prevent the resettlement process, Azerbaijan has resorted to unacceptable steps as it uses terrorist actions to intimidate the people who have either settled down or have a desire to live in Artsakh,” the analyst said.