Trend Daily News (Azerbaijan)
June 3, 2011 Friday 7:51 PM GMT +4

Official: Azerbaijani army is most powerful in South Caucasus

Azerbaijan, Barda, June 3 /Trend, S.Dzhaliloglu/

Today, the Azerbaijani army is the most powerful army in the South
Caucasus, spokesman of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry Eldar
Sabiroglu told reporters on Friday.

“The Armed Forces of Azerbaijan stand ready to fulfill any combat
mission. So far, Azerbaijan has signed military agreements with 28
countries. As a result of permanent strengthening of our army, the
interest of the armed forces of foreign states to cooperate with the
Azerbaijani army has increased. The military potential of the
Azerbaijani army is strengthened, new equipment is purchased. Over the
past several years, capital repairs and reconstruction work have been
carried out in 43 military units of the armed forces,” said Sabiroglu.

Over the past five months, the Armenian armed forces have violated the
ceasefire 447 times. As a result of hunger in the Armenian army, the
soldiers voluntarily pass to Azerbaijani side. Because of lack of
discipline in the armed forces of Armenia, conflicts often arise
between soldiers.

In recent period, six soldiers have been martyrs as a result of
violations of the ceasefire. During this period, the OSCE has
conducted monitoring on the front lines five times.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. – are
currently holding the peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.