– Are the incidents on the frontline a result of propaganda or those are really taking place?
– Incidents have always been taking place. Since 1994 no year has passed without incidents. Indeed, there were cases of tension of situation. For example, in 2002-2003 with the use of artillery there has been back and forth firing. There were battles and people received medals for them. It means that there have been more serious collisions than now. I think our media hasn’t written anything about that because back then information technologies were not so developed. Now it’s much easier. They call heads of villages. They say one thing and after awhile another journalist calls the same heads and they say something different. As a result, the rumors about the firing are circulated after they are over. But they write that the place is being bombarded right now. Or somebody writes on his Facebook page that the firing stopped but the firing may still proceed. Very often, people mix the territories. They have no idea where Tavoush is. They don’t know the difference between Fizuli and Hadrut. There is such a trend. The news reaches from the border to Yerevan, is posted on Facebook and is being exaggerated. Unfortunately many famous media outlets use these methods. And as a result a legendary story is being formed.
– Some media sources post sensational titles just to have extra clicks on their websites.
– By that, they are trying to attract the readers. They don’t verify whether the information is accurate or not. They might as well call the villages and find out that things are quiet but it doesn’t mean that the borderline is quiet. Often the residents of villages may not know what’s going on because the soldiers wouldn’t share any information with them. The villagers often can’t figure out whether the shots are directed on our positions or the other way around. The villagers may find out partial information about the incidents and even the soldiers cannot provide them with accurate information. Without knowing all this, often the media sources pick certain parts of the information and present as a common trend. For example, one media source writes, “in Chinari village the war continues.” The people, who’d be unfamiliar to the situation, may think that a battle is going on there with tanks and artillery. But it’s not quite to.
– According to Zhirayr Sefilyan today there is maximum possibility of war. Do you agree with that?
– War can be waged because of more minor incidents. There were more serious incidents as well but those didn’t turn into broad-spread war activities. It’s hard to say where this escalation of conflict will halt. Although June 5-6 proceeded with gun firing but those days were calmer than the past few days.
– Thus, when an official visits the region the borderline incidents become tenser.
– In fact any important event in the region creates certain tension. Even during holidays the control on the border is intensified because it is not excluded that this situation may play in favor of the opponent. It means this is a normal phenomenon. In this case, unfortunately, Hillary Clinton doesn’t blame the guilty side and makes general statement and by doing so she encourages the actions of Azerbaijan.
– Does Azerbaijan want to move the negotiation process to a primary stage by doing these actions?
– I think these actions have the goal to psychologically affect the Armenian society. They are trying to affect the domestic processes of Armenia. By doing so, they are trying to make the Armenian government understand that they are going to continue their actions in order to have Karabakh. Otherwise, they threaten to give victims to the Armenian side. This kind of pressure on their side has some kind of grounds because the tolerance level of the Armenian society to human losses is lower than in Azerbaijan. They are making mathematic calculations and think that even if they give victim a greater number of Azerbaijani soldiers they know that the Armenian society is more sorrowful for its soldiers. They are trying to create certain complaints in our society towards the resumption of war and as a solution they offer to give up Karabakh. They promise to cease the war in that case but this will be false as well. We should understand that the Azeris have not only military goals but also have the objective to have psychological influence on the Armenian society.
– Are these actions instructed by the elite and the top government level?
– I am sure that this is part of the Azerbaijani leadership plans and is played by a general “orchestra.”
– But don’t they learn that they shouldn’t act this way by having so many more victims.
– The Azerbaijani society is more closed to information leaks. They may not publicize the number of their victims. We clearly know that they have more casualties but they only speak of 8 victims so far. Moreover, according to them, three of the victims died during military trainings. They circulate some fantastic rumors as though the concrete block fell on two soldiers, etc. The Azeris are hiding an essential part of their casualties. We learn about the casualties after some time. For example, as a result of some court trial in Azerbaijan it was revealed that in 2011 seven of their soldiers were killed on their positions.
– How accurate is our information?
– You know, at war nothing can be accurate. As the Chinese strategist Sun Tsin says, war is the art of lie. It means that we openly show everything that’s happening we will give more playing cards to the adversary. There can be no accurate information because of technological reasons either. The enemy had injured on the battle field, they were moved. We don’t know if they stayed alive or died. Or of someone dies on the post of the enemy we can’t know that for sure. There is no accurate information about that. The actual number of the victims of Azerbaijan is not publicized and I think soon we will learn that they died because of car accident or suicide cases, etc.
– Perhaps they are trying to protect their society by this policy.
– They have stricter media control there. They more successfully hide the unfavorable information. During these years they have tried really hard to persuade their population that Armenians are weak and can’t fight. And when it clearly shows that they leave more victims on the battle field than the Armenian side the myth is destroyed. That’s why they are trying to hide the actual number of victims to maintain the legends of the “mighty” Azerbaijani army.
– Does the information about our victims pursue the same goal?
– No. If our information is not accurate that’s because of technical reasons. Why? Because no matter how hard they try to ban cell phones in the army we all know that the majority of soldiers have cell phones and any information about ceasefire violation is spread very fast. The ministry of defense provides accurate information in its statements. I think we don’t have any reasons to hide anything. There were cases when originally we thought of suicide cases but then it turned out that the soldier died because of the bullet of the adversary. But we don’t hide anything on purpose. The Armenian is very vulnerable because we are so open and public. Many of the citizens have no idea about the military reality. For us each death case is important and makes a lot of noise.
– What is the goal of creating the www.zazm.info website?
– At the beginning this was merely an information blog but later we decided to work in a more coordinated way and made it a media source. In this society there are many serious problems. People don’t have any military education. They don’t understand the concept of “war” well. The citizens, especially in Yerevan, are far from reality and live in illusions. In fact, from Yerevan to the nearest positions is only one hour by car.