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“It is a terror act -  one can hardly define it in a different way. The essence of Azerbaijan as a state is fascism and terrorism,” the spokesman for the president of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic David

Babayan told Panorama.am when commenting on the fact that Azerbaijan used a tank for the first time since the signing of the ceasefire. The press service of NKR Defense Ministry reported earlier today that Azerbaijani troops – for the first time since the ceasefire – used a tank to fire at positions of NKR Defense Army located in the southern direction of the line of contact between the armed forces of Karabakh and Azerbaijan.

Babayan stressed that the Armenian side was not scared at all by the actions of Azerbaijan.

“The shells fired from the tank were the first since the ceasefire was signed in 1994.  It is a new form of terrorism, at a time when the international community, OSCE Minsk Group Co-chair states are combating terrorism. In fact, the ceasefire violations committed this way are nothing other than disregard for the mediators and the international community,” Babayan noted.

Speaking about the PACE’s support for pro-Azerbaijani reports and the issue of whether such support contributes to Azerbaijani violations of the ceasefire, D. Babayan said that Azerbaijan would resort to such steps even without the mentioned reports.

“But it is a shame that PACE and other organizations back such reports. It is a blow to democratic values. It is support shown for a terrorist formation, which is a state in this case. It is a great blow to democratic values, and that blow is being delivered by an organization whose role is to protect democratic values,” Babayan said, expressing an opinion that only force can be used in response to these actions of Azerbaijan.

‘The only means of deterring the enemy is to answer by using the language of force,” he said adding that answers in the language of force should be given to any aggressor, a terrorist group or a fascist formation.

‘They understand only the language of force,” Babayan said in conclusion.