Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Oct 29 2008
AZERBAIJAN UNRUFFLED BY ARMENIAN DRILLS
The Azerbaijan Defense Ministry has termed the military exercises held
by Armenian armed forces in the occupied territories on Saturday as
weak, citing the low belligerent spirit of the servicemen. It also
dismissed Armenian claims that new military machinery was used during
the drills. Azerbaijani parliament members regarded the exercises
primarily as a step aimed at domestic policy.
MP Aydin Mirzazada said that after the wave of mass protests in
Armenia which were put down with the use of force, President Serzh
Sarkisian is trying to legitimize his authorities and to increase
public confidence in him. On the other hand, Yerevan is indignant over
Russias stepping up effort of late at resolving the Armenia-Azerbaijan
Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict and its holding discussions in this
regard with Azerbaijan. Armenia, which has no say in the region, is
trying to air its grievances by holding military exercises and thus
remind everyone about its presence. Another MP, Gultakin Hajiyeva,
agreed that by holding exercises, Armenia, which is trying to create
an impression that it has a powerful military, aims to allay public
dissent and form public opinion that it has no intention to make
concessions on the Garabagh settlement. Movses Akopian, the "defense
minister" of the self-proclaimed Upper Garabagh republic, earlier
claimed the self-styled entity’s army had for the first time trained
attack maneuvering during the exercises held in the occupied
Azerbaijani territories, in order to ward off the threat posed to the
security of Garabagh. He also maintained that "Upper Garabagh’s
servicemen will not wait for the day Azerbaijan attacks."
Upper Garabagh is an Azeri region occupied by Armenia since a 1994
cease-fire ended separatist hostilities that killed an estimated
30,000 people and ousted about a million Azeris out of their
homes. Years of peace talks have brought little tangible result.