NATO REPRESENTATIVE: "AZERBAIJAN HAS REALLY ESTABLISHED AN ARMY WHICH IS READY TO CONDUCT OFFENSIVE"

Today.Az
04 February 2009 [10:02]

After Day.Az has posted information about the visit of Azerbaijani
deputies to the frontline regions, it has received a call from a
senior official of NATO from Brussels, who said he always reads
Russian language e- mass medias of the South Caucasus states.

Asking not to mention his name, he dictated the comment on the
statement of Milli Medjlis deputy Baba Taghiyev about the ability of
the Azerbaijani army to liberate all the occupied lands of Azerbaijan
"within 48 hours". Below, is the text of the comment of the NATO
commander.

"It seems that the deputy spoke in a figural sense when he stated
the ability of the Azerbaijani army to liberate the lands just
in two days", said he. "Even the NATO army is unable to do this
wonder. And the matter is not the power of the armed forces of
Armenia, now occupying Nagorno Karabakh and seven other regions of
Azerbaijan. The matter is that though the statements about the power
of the Armenian armed forces have been exaggerated even considering
the free supplies of the Russian military hardware, well-known even
without publications in the Georgian press, the front units of the
Azerbaijani army will hardly manage to reach the Armenian-Azerbaijani
borders within 48 hours due to the complex landscape and numerous
mine fields and other military and technical obstacles. Well, they
can just have a trip around an empty Karabakh.

We are closely watching the armament process of the two countries. The
Azerbaijani army has really grown stronger over the past years. Your
country has really created an army which is able to hold offensive on
the background of which the Armenian army does not seem significant
any more. Today’s relative index, we use in NATO, is absolutely not
the same that we used before reconciliation, when there was almost no
regular Azerbaijani army, while Armenian formations invaded almost
empty settlements of lower Karabakh. Those times are far behind
and now you have a real army, which is able not only to defend the
remaining part of your territory but also to conduct offensive.

Anyway, the statements of your deputy should be perceived in a figural
sense like the statements of Armenian generals about the ability
of the Armenian armed forces to move further and hold hostilities
inside Azerbaijan. Both parties need to calm down, though Armenians
have to worry more and more. In this sense, we really think that in
the tactical sense the years of reconciliation worked in your favor,
Armenian army is no longer able to hold offensive without facing
resistance. Time continues to work in your favor, but you have not
yet reached the critical overbalance".