With the tacit consent of the superpowers, Baku attempted to put pressure with weapons on the Armenian side to obtain concessions, Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR/Artsakh) National Assembly Deputy Speaker Vahram Balayan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

In his words, for many years, Azerbaijan seeks to tear pieces from the areas under Artsakh’s jurisdiction

“The objective is to show the Azerbaijani people that they can solve the [Karabakh] problem with weapons,” stressed Balayan. “With the aggression in April, the [Azerbaijan President Ilham] Aliyev regime attempted to bring their own self-created myth to life, but I believe they did not succeed in that.”

As per the NKR parliament vice chairman, even though the Armenian side suffered some territorial losses, Azerbaijan did not attain its goal. Having suffered considerable casualties, they came to realize that advancing and occupying Karabakh is not so easy.

“Azerbaijan aimed to check the level of [combat-]readiness of the Armenian side, put psychological pressure on the civilians, and attempt to carry out the objective of solving the problem by military means,” added Vahram Balayan. “And it is no coincidence that they [i.e. the Azerbaijanis] failed, by asking for a ceasefire.”