Criminal Inaction Manifested in Border Security Issue: Tigran Abrahamyan

Head of the 'Henaket' analytical center and former security advisor to the President of Artsakh, Tigran Abrahamyan, has made a Facebook post addressing the border situation in Syunik and Gegharkunik regions. Below is the post:

“Just 2-3 months ago, I publicly warned that during the post-war phase, we face the challenge of intensifying engineering and fortification works in the border area. Months ago, I raised the issue that Azerbaijan has a starting advantage in border works, which will pose serious problems for us in the future. Back in December 2020, I noted the urgent need for the reorganization/redeployment of border units due to the new realities.

Various faces of the authorities, officials, and structures assured either internally or publicly that there would be no problems in this regard because significant work was being done. However, the Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia recently stated that they couldn’t equip the entire border due to winter conditions.

While there can always be complications in high-altitude areas due to weather conditions, seasonality, and relief factors, these issues were particularly complicated in the case of Azerbaijan for several reasons. Secondly, if it was difficult to address a number of technical issues during the winter months, that does not imply that the protection of the border direction or the adjacent settlements should be left hanging in the air.

There were minimal conditions that could have been provided under any weather conditions. I am not even mentioning that the incident happened on May 11-12, rather than, for example, in January-February. Even if works in that direction hadn’t started in April/May, when certain favorable weather conditions were already present, then services carried out in such directions should have been organized differently.

The only issue is that even if there was the political will to ensure the protection of that part of the border, the relevant structures and individuals have manifested criminal inaction, which has resulted in a volatile and crisis situation, as characterized by the Prime Minister.

Immediately after resolving this issue—regardless of its outcomes—a process of dismissals should begin within the military-political leadership, and the current acting Prime Minister has no moral right to participate in early elections. I insist that a legal process should be initiated and the relevant individuals involved in this issue should be held accountable.”