Azerbaijan tried to improve its position in that part of the border and the Armenian forces not only prevented those attempts, but also gave a worthy counterattack, they improved their position, the second president of Armenia Robert Kocharyan said in an interview with Armenian three TV channels, referring to the hostilities in Tavush in July.

 "I consider that our armed forces responded correctly, on time, quickly and adequately.  After that, trying to return to the previous situation, Azerbaijan started bombing Armenian villages, using both artillery and drones. And, in fact, that local battle turned into a larger-scale military operation...You know, we have to look at all this over the past two years, what was going on at the border, what was going on along the Armenian-Azerbaijani line of contact. In fact, for the first time we prevented Azerbaijan's desire to improve their position. And the positional advantage is extremely important....Therefore, it is very important to always think about improving and strengthening the positions on the front line, which, unfortunately, we have not done during the last 2 years.“

“The army was always faced with the task of maximally improving the positions and the significant strengthening of the positions began in those years,” Robert Kocharyan said.

“Every year I visited the first line, mainly it was the part of Karabakh, and we made an annual program of the works that had to be done on the front line. Every year we invested to improve the positions, building the second defensive echelon, building the third. This is a daily job and it should be like that. And the leadership of the Army knew that everywhere, in every sector, if they had the opportunity to improve and strengthen their positions, then, without asking, it is their sacred duty, they are obliged to do it. This was the approach. And I will also try to connect these border events with our policy ․ The first conclusion, perhaps, is the following: it turned out that the President of Azerbaijan is not so constructive, Azerbaijan is not so peace-loving, and the people of Azerbaijan are not so ready for peace....Even during the war, in 1991-94, such clashes between Armenians and Azeris never took place in Moscow or the United States.  Now we have to fix two very important facts․  Today we have not only a government seeking revenge in Azerbaijan, but also a people seeking revenge in Azerbaijan. These two circumstances join together and the danger of resumption of the war is much greater. And we must understand that the formula for addressing the people is no longer the formula for pinning hopes on the constructivism of the government, and the government must admit today that it has pursued a wrong policy on this issue during these two years,” said Robert Kocharyan.