Larisa Alaverdyan: Escalation of situation at the border connected with Minsk Group activity

Lusine Vasilyan
Public Radio of Armenia

The fact that Baku denies there has been an act of sabotage, deprives the Azerbaijanis who crossed the Armenian border, of the status of prisoners of war, Chairwoman of the “Against Legal Arbitrariness” NGO, first Human Rights Defender Larisa Alaverdyan told reporters today.

She is concerned about the public reaction to the recent events in Karvarchar. According to her, the discussions on whether it was an act of sabotage or not are not only useless, but also worrisome.

“I’m worried, because this is not the first time the social networks and media react inadequately to events. The first case was the one of Hakob Injighulyan,” she said.

As for the escalation of situation at the border, Larisa Alaverdyan ascribes this to the activity of the OSCE Minsk Group.

According to her, Azerbaijan has given a lot of reasons for the Minsk Group to make targeted statements, while the latter remains committed to the principle of maintaining parity.

“Unable to take measures like imposing peace, the Minsk Group has started to criticize the status quo. This is dangerous. Such statements have always encouraged Azerbaijan’s illegal steps contradicting international law,” she said.

Freedom fighter Arthur Yeghiazaryan said in turn, that saboteurs should not necessarily look like specially trained servicemen in a special uniform.

“They can be dressed like a shepherd or driver and not look remarkable at first glance,” he said, adding that everything depends on the purpose of their incursion.

For Larisa Alaverdyan it’s beyond any doubt that the actions of the group that entered Karvachar were controlled from above.