Today.Az » Politics » Azerbaijani Defense Ministry: Ex-Armenian president denies facts about 2016 April battles
08 August 2020 [12:43] - Today.Az


By Trend

The "truth" about the April 2016 battles, brought to the attention of the Armenian public by the third President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan after a long silence, is a lie and slander, and just another unsuccessful attempt to restore his deeply tarnished reputation, Head of the press office of Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry, Colonel Vagif Dargahli said.

Dargahli made the remark while commenting on the recent statements by Sargsyan, Trend reports.

“He may succeed in convincing his comrades-in-arms in Armenia of what he says, but, in fact, the truth of the April battles is well known,” the ministry representative said.

After the April fiasco, Inquiry Commission of the Armenian Parliament, investigating the results of the battles, announced that only in manpower, Armenia had lost 560 soldiers, Dargahli reminded.

“The destruction of 33 Armenian tanks and 15 guns in these battles is also beyond doubt,” the head of the press office stressed.

In his words, by concealing the losses of the Armenian armed forces and deliberately understating the size of the territories liberated by the Azerbaijani army, Sargsyan wants to achieve his foul intentions and justify his incompetence.

"He hypocritically denies the real facts and shamelessly declares that Armenians allegedly won the April battles,” Dargahli added.

He went on to ask: "The question arises: if, as he claims, they won these battles, then why, shortly after those events, his close friend and colleague, the then Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan and the entire top leadership of the armed forces of Armenia were dismissed?! Were the revolt of the Armenian society, mass protests of Armenian mothers, the spontaneous armed uprising of the Sasna Tsrer group against the authorities and, finally, the end of Sargsyan's political rule due to the heavy losses of the Armenian side, not an echo of the April triumph of the Azerbaijani army?"

Only a hypocrite like Sargsyan, knowing that 2016 April battles took place in front of eyes' of world community, can deny the truth and talk about some kind of victory, Dargahli noted.

“Sargsyan is trying, in every possible way, to find an excuse for the defeat suffered by the Armenian armed forces in the April battles, and he is not ashamed to talk about some 'victory' at the time when the advanced units of the Azerbaijani Army, using only a small part of the available weapons and military equipment, liberated 2,000 hectares of their land in a short time” Dargahli emphasized.

"As for the fact that during the battles, Serzh Sargsyan allegedly did not insist that the Armenian army return this territory, since he preferred to save the lives of soldiers, this once again indicates that he understood perfectly well that in the case of an attempt, Armenia would suffer huge casualties both in manpower and military equipment, and in the occupied territories," the defense ministry's representative said.

“It can be certainly said that the April battles, and the losses suffered by the Armenian armed forces during these battles, became a real lesson not only for the then military-political leadership of Armenia, but also for the current regime, which perfectly realizes that the next clashes with Azerbaijani army will lead to irreversible losses, including the loss of power, as happened with the Sargsyan regime,” he added.

“In particular, I want to note that Sargsyan who is trying to fool the Armenian public once again with his statement, pretending to be a hero, clings to a rotten straw to save his own skin," Dargahli concluded.



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