Armenian experts state aggravation of conflict with Azerbaijan through use of heavy weapons

During the year of 2015, the tense situation had been remaining at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, since the parties to the conflict used antiaircraft systems and mortar launchers. However, according to Armenian political analysts, the escalation of the conflict could not result in a large-scale war due to a number of economic reasons and actions of observers for its settlement.

In general, according to Artsrun Ovannisyan, Press Secretary of the Armenian Ministry of Defence (MoD), the year of 2015 was "more than tense", and that fact seriously affected the everyday life of the civilian population of border villages.

Political analyst Sergey Minasyan, Deputy Director of the Caucasus Institute, believes that the tension at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border is closely related to several factors, "starting from nervousness in the former Soviet Union territory and the Middle East and ending with the deterioration of the socio-economic and socio-political situation in Azerbaijan."

Sergey Minasyan has also praised the role of international observers.

Meanwhile, the expert does not see any progress in the process of the conflict resolution. According to Sergey Minasyan, the real dynamics of the conflict resolution ended in Florida in 2001 when Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents had a meeting under the auspices of the US State Department.

According to political analyst Manvel Sargsyan, Director of the Armenian Centre for National and Strategic Studies, in 2015, the specifics of the escalation of the conflict is in the fact that the parties increasingly used heavy weapons.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.