Analysts confirm Armenian blogger's calculations of losses suffered by parties in Karabakh War

The losses of both parties during the aggravation of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh are approximately equal, the total death toll will be approximately 10,300, the blogger of the "Caucasian Knot" has counted. Military observers have agreed with these estimates.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 3, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced that from September 27 to November 9, a total of 2783 servicemen perished in hostilities in the Karabakh conflict zone. On November 19, Arsen Torosyan, the Armenian Minister of Public Health, reported on 2425 perished soldiers of the Defence Army. At the same time, according to the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, hundreds of soldiers are reported still missing. On December 2, the MoD of Nagorno-Karabakh announced that there are 1746 soldiers on the list of those who perished during the conflict escalation.

Grant Mikaelyan, a blogger of the "Caucasian Knot", calculated, in his publication in the blog "Political Geography of Southern Caucasus", the losses of the parties in the Karabakh War. Mikaelyan claims that "the actual number of the perished Azerbaijanis will be up to 5100 persons; and 540 more casualties were Syrians."

"I assume that the losses (of the parties) are almost equal [...] The approximate total number of deaths in this war will be from 8000 to 10,300 people; and the second figure looks more adequate," the blogger has concluded.

The total number of both parties' losses in the conflict is close to reality, but the Azerbaijani party has understated its losses in official reports, Aik Khachikyan, a military analyst, believes. The total losses of the Azerbaijani party may range from 5500 to 6000 people, Mr Khachikyan has suggested.

Robert Nazaryan, a military expert, agrees with Mikaelyan's calculation s of combat losses. He also estimates that the total number of casualties reaches approximately 10,000. "The calculation error can be ±100-200 from each party. It should be taken into account that Azerbaijan has understated its losses at least twice," he told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 9, 2020 at 04:45 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.