I don’t think a war will break out, at least not this year. This is what former commander of the Defense Army of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Lieutenant-General Samvel Babayan said during an April 19 press conference.

“The problem is that Azerbaijan has always made populist statements for the international community and made differing statements in the country,” he stated.

Former defense minister of Artsakh, Director of the State Emergency Situations Service of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Levon Mnatsakanyan has expressed the view that a war will break out soon.

However, Samvel Babayan stressed the fact that the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be impossible under the Madrid Principles. The former army commander also stressed that even if Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan agrees on a resolution of the conflict under the Madrid Principles, it will be impossible to resolve it. “The issue can’t be solved through the Lachin corridor. In this case, we have to tell the people of Karabakh to pack up and leave and leave the territories to the Azerbaijanis. All three presidents of Armenia have taken this path, but it doesn’t mean that Pashinyan also has to take this path. I’m just expressing my opinion.”

Under the Madrid Principles for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, it is proposed to deliver the territories surrounding the former Autonomous Region of Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan, grant an interim status to Nagorno-Karabakh with the provision of security and self-government guarantees, link Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh through a corridor, determine the ultimate legal status for Nagorno-Karabakh through a legally binding expression of will, give internally displaced people and refugees the right to return to their former places of residence and grant international security guarantees that will also incorporate peacekeeping operations.