NECESSARY TO PREPARE FOR WAR INSIDE THE COUNTRY EVEN IN BAKU, MILITARY EXPERT
Leyla Tagiyeva
news.az
Jan 21 2010
Azerbaijan
Yashar Jafarli News.Az interviews Yashar Jafarli, Azerbaijani military
expert and chairman of Officers in reserve and in resignation public
association.
Azerbaijan has paid great attention to building its armed forces
in the recent years. How do you assess the combat readiness of the
Azerbaijani army?
The country’s defense budget has grown dramatically in the past
years and it continues to grow. We can see a 7-8 times growth over
the indicator of 2003. Today our defense budget equals the overall
state budget of Armenia. This shows the high attention paid by the
supreme commander and the government of the country to the army needs.
Naturally, such financing promotes positive development including
purchase of weapon, armed technique, ammunition and allocation
of more funds for training and maintenance of personal staff,
settlement of social problems of servicemen. This has a positive
influence on country’s defense capacity and the combat readiness of
the Azerbaijani army.
Which problems does the Azerbaijani army have today?
Certainly, there are some problems and I cannot and do not want to
bypass them. I consider that what we have today is not sufficient. Our
society expects something more. For example, the problem of civil
control over the armed forces has not been settled yet. In fact,
no one in the parliament, the community or elsewhere, except for
the supreme commander, knows about the processes ongoing in the
army. No report is made. No parliamentary hearings are held for the
defense ministry to report on the items they use the state budget
funds and the reasons of frequent deaths in the armed forces. Thus,
no relations are being developed between the society and the armed
forces. In addition, I think the level of corruption and bribery in
the army is growing. There are sufficient grounds to believe that a
greater part of state budget funds are misappropriated and this is
backed not by the insignificant persons in the armed forces.
Do you think that the funds allocated to the defense sphere from the
state budget are sufficient to create an army able to liberate the
occupied lands?
As a military expert, I consider that the allocation of funds is not
enough. Today we have a good army which is considered the strongest
and most combat-ready in the South Caucasus. But our country is
facing a task to liberate the lands occupied by Armenia and ensure
its territorial integrity. But what we have now is not enough. This
is not sufficient for us to start offensive and liberate the lands,
raising our flag there.
What do we lack for this?
I consider that we are not ready to this. People often ask whether
our army is ready to liberate lands. What else has it to do, if its
main vocation is to fight and hold hostilities? Army cannot guarantee
victory in war. The responsibility here is laid rather on strategists
and the political leadership of the country. A combat ready army is
not enough to win in war. Victories are needed in diplomacy, economy
and sociopolitical life. Victory has many components and we need to
do more to win. We should prepare the society and the army rears for
this. We should prepare for war inside the country even in Baku. The
most important is the moral spirit of people and military and patriotic
upbringing. But the moral spirit of the people is weak so far. In
addition, we do not build enough military facilities. I consider
that we must excel the enemy at least five times both in the number
of the personal staff and the quality of technique and equipment,
as well as the rest parameters. I would site another example.
If we drive from Ali-Bayramli inside the country, there is a
bridge via Kura. This is the only bridge that links Sabirabad to
Ali-Bayramli. This bridge is not intended for transport weighting over
15 tons. But the lightest tank weights 40 tons. How can we say that
we are preparing for war? It should not be like that There should be
additional bridges by which our tanks will take offensive. However, we
have not dislocated all our tanks in the front area. We have reserves
and rears somewhere. But are our roads suitable for transportation
of a column of tanks and other technique from, for example, Lenkoran
or Baku to the conflict area? No, they are not. That is, I think that
along with training the armed forces, there is a need to prepare the
society, build communications. The war is conducted between the states
rather than armies. Army from each side is just an ordinary instrument
reporting to the state. Among all state structures the armed forces
are most ready for war, because they are intended for this. But,
in fact, today no one is ready for war except for the armed forces.
At the recent session in the government by results of 2009 with
participation of the president, the head of state spoke of the export
potential of the Azerbaijani defense production. Is it actual abroad
considering the fact that we have appeared on the arms market not
long before?
First of all, I would like to voice my opinion regarding issues of
the need for defense industry. This is one of the directions of the
nonoil sector which is good because this sector needs in development.
Therefore, I consider that the defense industry should be developed
especially because we have the necessary potential. As is known, we
have certain defense enterprises that have been left since the Soviet
times. On their basis we have constructed, or resumed, or restored
production that is we use what we already have. Why not use them?!
Thus, we send money for the development of something, create additional
jobs, produce our own production by means of which we meet the need
of the armed forces at low prices. I consider that this is normal
and correct.
In addition, today Azerbaijan has a potential to produce for export.
For example, as far as I know Turkey and Pakistan have already
purchased sniper rifles Istiglal and are planning to buy more. I
have also heard that Israel, Georgia, Belarus, Ukraine and Russia
also display interest with it. The negotiations on modernization
of technique and spare parts and mechanisms supplies are currently
underway with these countries. Is it bad? We produce, sell and get
money. This means that there is development. I think we have the
most promising cooperation in this field with Turkey, Pakistan and I
do not rule out cooperation with Georgia and Israel. Only Iran from
the nearest surrounding remains closed in this sense while definite
work is carried out with the remaining neighbors including in the
post-Soviet area, even with the Central Asian countries. I think
the greatest breakthrough will be with Turkey as the potential,
understanding and interest are bigger here.