ArmenPress
July 25 2005

ARMENIAN DEFENSE MINISTER DOWNPLAYS AZERBAIJANI WAR RHETORIC

YEREVAN, JULY 25, ARMENPRESS: Armenian defense minister Serzh
Sarkisian downplayed last Saturday Azerbaijan’s war rhetoric saying
it would have tried to win Karabakh back by using force long ago had
it been sure of its military build-up. Addressing a youth jamboree at
Armenia’s resort town of Tsakhkadzor Sarkisian said Azerbaijani
presidents have been saying for years they are able to solve the
problem through a war, “but if they are sure of their military
capacity why they have not done this ?’ he asked.
Sarkisian also dismissed a sharp increase in Azerbaijan’s defense
spending as an “imprudent ” trick designed to bully the Armenians
into making more concessions on Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijani
president Ilham Aliyev said last June that his country’s military
budget will increase from $175 million in 2004 to $300 million this
year in response to the recent redeployment of Russian weapons from
Georgia to Armenia and claimed that the Azerbaijani military has
already gained superiority over its Armenian adversary.
Sarkisian also spoke about domestic issues, brushing aside talks
about the possibility of what is dubbed as ‘color revolutions,’
saying Armenia had already seen this scenario back in 1990. Sarkisian
said revolutions took place in those post-Soviet republics which were
ruled by former Soviet leaders. He also argued that these
‘revolutions’ were in fact coups, as no systematic changes followed.
Serzh Sarkisian also denied that Vladimir Harutunian, a Georgian
citizen of Armenian descent, accused of making an attempt on the life
of U.S. President George W. Bush in Tbilisi on May 10, has anything
to do with Armenia or Armenians. “Detained Vladimir Harutunian is a
national of Georgia and has no ties with Armenia or Armenians. And
the assumptions made by some media are absolutely incomprehensible
and inappropriate,” he told a youth jamboree in Armenia’s resort town
of Tsakhkadzor on July 23.
Armenian defense minister quoted Georgia’s chief prosecutor who
said earlier last week that `Harutunian is a Georgian citizen, the
incident took place in Georgia and naturally it has no relation with
Armenia. We are looking for all evidence and information in Georgia.
They are here and nowhere else.