STEPANAKERT (Arminfo)–Azerbaijan’s desire to see Turkey as a co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group is inadmissible and fraught with the possibility of destabilizing the military and political situation and also with upsetting the established balance of forces in the region of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict–Nagorno Karabakh Defense Minister Seyran Oganyan said at a news conference in Stepanakert April 16.
Oganyan talked about incidents on the contact line between Karabakh and Azerbaijani armed forces–in particular–about the recent sniper fire heard from the Azerbaijani side during a scheduled OSCE monitoring mission–and noted that Karabakh army subunits had been ordered not to reply to the sniper fire. The minister also noted that the army command was taking measures to ensure the safety of those serving on the front line.
He added that should military action be resumed in the region of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict–the Karabakh Defense Army is capable of repulsing Azerbaijan.
Touching upon Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiyev’s warlike statemen’s on the possible solution of the Karabakh problem by force–Oganyan said: "Abiyev says that we have no army. Let the enemy attempt to make a step forward–then they will see that we have an army. If Azerbaijan was sure of its forces–it would have started military actions against Karabakh immediately."