Azerbaijani Defense Minister admits Baku initiated Karabakh offensive

At a Security Council meeting chaired by the Azerbaijani President, Defense Minister Col. Gen. Zakir Hasanov admitted that Baku started the offensive against Nagorno Karabakh, citing however absurd arguments to justify their attacks, Razm.info reports.

In his report, Zakir Hasanov said in particular:

“I need to mention that the Armenian armed forces have recently made several subversive operations in the territories along the frontline, using heavy artillery and weaponry against the population. As a result, the number of casualties among civilians has increased”. (This is evidently disinformation. In fact, Armenian settlements had recently been shelled from Azerbaijani missile-artillery units).

In order to prevent these subversive attacks we assessed the operational situation and decided to deal blows to the firing points and artillery units of the Armenian armed forces to make them move away from our villages.

At the same time, taking into account the movement of reserves of the Armenian armed forces in a certain direction, reconnaissance units of Azerbaijani armed forces carried out planned activities in three directions... Our actions primarily aim to liberate our settlements and firing points.”

Thus, the Azeri Minister factually acknowledged that Baku was the one to start the offensive, citing justifications that have nothing to do with the reality.

Moreover, Zakir Hasanov stressed the need for "the liberation of Azerbaijani settlements," thus proving Azerbaijan is not ready for peace talks and seeks to resolve the conflict by force,” Verelq.am said.