Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29
By Ilkin Izzet - Trend:
Yerevan is trying to hide numerous casualties on the frontline with the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, which occurred over a short period of time, a reliable source from the Armenian community said on May 29.
The Armenian Armed Forces have suffered numerous combat and non-combat losses over the past three or four months.
A list of killed Armenian servicemen was obtained during investigations conducted by Trend news agency.
The Armenian defense ministry may be trying to hide the deaths and injuries of servicemen. But according to the obtained information, they have incurred numerous losses over a short period of time.
It was revealed that 11 Armenian servicemen were killed and three injured during ceasefire violations, the suppression of acts of reconnaissance and sabotage groups, attacks on positions of the Azerbaijani armed forces' units, and internal incidents among Armenians.
The dead are the lieutenant colonel Garik Balayan, Senior Lieutenant Harutyun Safaryan, Lieutenant Araik Babayan, lance-corporal Erik Gasparyan, as well as soldiers Artur Ohanjanyan, Armen Hovhannisyan, Edik Shahnazaryan, Karen Galstyan, Arman Gukasyan, Garnik Torosyan and Nerses Karapetyan.
The servicemen Mher Khlghatyan, Varazdat Zakaryan, Ashot Grigoryan were injured.
Armenia's Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan had to admit that during the incident that occurred on May 28, lance-corporal Erik Gasparyan was killed. The minister also added that there are injured, however, he didn't specify their names.
But the information received from various sources shows that these facts do not completely reflect the reality, as the number of the dead and injured is reduced by several times for various reasons in order prevent chaos among Armenians.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the U.S. are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.
Edited by C.N.