Our Allies Will Not Fight for Us: Defense Ministry Representative on CSTO Support

Our victory will undoubtedly come, because people hide their age and physical condition in order to volunteer. This was stated by Defense Ministry representative Artur Hovhannisyan during a press briefing today, October 17. “I meet young men and women in the city every day who ask to be drafted. They did not serve on time for various reasons, but now they really want to go to the front, they are going to the military registration and enlistment offices, but the law does not allow it, and they are rejected. Every time they ask me how to get to the front and learn to handle weapons. After all this, we cannot not win. We are obliged to win and we will win,” he said.

Addressing the question regarding the appeal to the CSTO for air defense support, Artur Hovhannisyan initially stated that he would not comment on political issues, but added, “We are currently addressing our air defense issues ourselves. I have said several times that we will carry out our fight, we will defend our land ourselves. Our friends and allies can help, but they will not fight for us.”

When asked why the Armenian side does not want to put an end to the war by striking decisive and powerful blows to the enemy's critical military points and infrastructure, the Defense Ministry representative responded, “Why do you think that after some strike, Azerbaijan should stop the war? We think with our criteria that if we hit this point, the war will end. But the opponent does not think this way; the enemy may lose 99 percent of its troops and its infrastructure, but still will not stop for the sake of its own power.”