ARMENIA ALLOCATE RUSSIAN MILITARY EQUIPMENT AND CANNOT BLAME AZERBAIJAN IN VIOLATION OF DOVSE – AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATION’S DEPARTMENT HEAD

TREND Information
Nov 30 2007
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr. S.Agayeva / The official Baku called
fiction and lie the statements by Armenian officials about Azerbaijan
exceeds the armament limit.

"Armenia allocates the Russian military equipment in its territory,
but cannot blame Azerbaijan in violation of the DOVSE agreement,"
Novruz Mammadov, the head of the Department on International Relations
of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration, said to the Trend
agency on 30 November.

During the annual meeting of the OSCE Council of Ministers in Madrid,
the Armenian Defense Minister Vardan Oskanian accused Azerbaijan
of exceeding armament limits. The Azerbaijani Defense Minister
Elmar Mammadyarov replied that the statements made by Oskanian were
unfounded.

The DOVSE agreement was signed in Paris on19 November 1990 and came
into force from 9 November 1992. Azerbaijan joined the agreement
after gaining independence after collapse of the Soviet Union.

DOVSE is directed to provide security and stability in military forces
of Europe, abolish inequality, which cause damage to stability and
security, as well as prevent attack or launch of large-scale attacks
to Europe

The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began
in 1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since
1992, Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including
the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts. In
1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which
time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding peaceful
negotiations.

Armenia allocated armaments in Nagorno-Karabakh as many as in the
territory of the country.

"Azerbaijan did not undertake steps which violate the DOVSE agreement,
and international organizations did not submitted the claims on
the issue," Eldar Sabiroglu, the head of the Azerbaijani Defense
Ministry’s press-service reported to Trend agency. Ratifying the
agreement Azerbaijan and Armenia assumed obligations that the quantity
of armaments of the both countries to be one the same level.

However, the population of Azerbaijan exceeds the number of
Armenians. We fulfill our obligations featly," Sabiroglu said. "
Armenia purchases armament from Russia and China for recent years.

Armenia charges Azerbaijan in order to draw the attention of
international communities away Armenia," Useir Jafarov, an independent
expert of Azerbaijan, said.