STEPANAKERT, AUGUST 13, ARMENPRESS. The military-political situation in Artsakh, despite being very unique on one hand, is generally calm, according to Artsakh’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Davit Babayan.

Speaking to ARMENPRESS about the latest Azerbaijani military provocations on the line of contact, Babayan stressed that it doesn’t matter what kind of weapons the Azeri armed forces use against Artsakh because the Azeri’s main goal is the same – the psychological and geopolitical one, and not military.

“This is a multi-layered policy. The goal is one – to drive out the Armenians from Artsakh. And if that were to happen, an entirely different situation were to be created not only in Transcaucasia, but also in a huge wider region – Northern Caucasus, Middle East, Central Asia, Volga regions, Black Sea basin,” the foreign minister said.

Babayan says that Azerbaijan is trying with military and other means to psychologically pressure the Armenians of Artsakh, to drive the people into despair so that they lose hope and change their minds around the prospect of living in Artsakh, however all these attempts of the Azeri authorities are doomed to failure. In this context, Babayan emphasized that to live in Artsakh has become a mission.

“We must continue to live here. Living here is already some kind of a mission and not just an everyday living. Therefore we must treat this all calmly and continue our work, our service. Those attempts of the Azeris certainly don’t impact us, but anyway we must strengthen our people’s hope and faith even more. This requires a comprehensive, common approach, we must engage in the right geopolitics, the right domestic policy and so on,” Babayan said, stressing that all of this first of all requires people to recover from the stress. Second of all, he called for unity and belief, professionalism and patriotism.

“There are many problems, we have a lot to do, but most definitely it can be done, we can keep what we have,” the FM said.

Amid increased Azeri ceasefire violations both at the border with Armenia and the line of contact with Artsakh, for the first time on August 12the Russian peacekeepers overtly accused the Azeri military for breaching the ceasefire and attacking Armenian positions in Artsakh with kamikaze drones. The report on the attack was made initially by the Artsakh military on August 11, and the Russian peacekeepers confirmed it on August 12.

Interview by Aram Sargsyan

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan