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NO NEED FOR WEAPONS DISPLAYED IN ARMENIAN MILITARY PARADE ONCE THEY ARE NOT USED
news.az
Sept 23 2011
Azerbaijan
News.Az interviews Azad Isazade, Azerbaijani military expert.
What are your comments on latest military statements made by the
Armenian political and military leadership during a military parade
in Yerevan?
First of all, one needs to understand that parade is a celebration for
any country. And if wonderful toast and flattering expressions are made
in honor of a bride and a groom at a wedding or in honor of a jubilee
in celebration of anniversary, top government and military commanders
are usually more pathetic in a parade. So, I have not heard anything
surprising in statements of the Armenian president and other officials.
They said what they expected to do. Moreover, this is a country which
is at a conflict and, naturally, they used this platform to send a
message to a neighboring state (which also sends such messages).
Secondly, I appreciate these remarks as a message to their public
because the population is in stress.
There has been arms race in the region in recent years and Armenian
population understands it very well that their country is losing in
this race while it tries to compete with the help of civilian economy,
that is, some social programs and so on. That is, this race primarily
affects budgets of population.
By the way, the Armenian population is reducing day by day...
There is also serious demographic crisis which Armenian authorities
fail to hide. This crisis affects all spheres of life including
military. Armenia simply has not been able to provide the army with
recruits over the last eight years, and maybe more. The conscription
plan is not fulfilled. This situation has been observed from year
to year.
So, it is one thing to gather well-trained soldiers for a parade
and it is another thing to fill military units with rank and file
soldiers. Besides, it does not make a sense to have a good weapon if
there is no one to use it.
Even pro-Armenian media admit that even June military parade in Baku
and the recent one in Yerevan clearly showed that Azerbaijan is ahead
of Armenia for its military power to a great degree...
Definitely. Given that I am always far from groundless praise of the
Azerbaijani army and always try to give an unbiased assessment of its
battle readiness, its superiority in technical sense and in terms of
preparation is obvious.
Azerbaijani army is now superior to Armenian army both technically
and qualitatively. However, we must bear in mind that the Azerbaijani
army faces a task of an offensive war to liberate its territory,
and therefore it should enhance this superiority.
As you know, the attacking side should have superiority as much as
five times and if combat operations are conducted in a mountainous
terrain, then this advantage should be even greater.
That is why numerical or qualitative superiority is not enough,
it should be even higher. In this case the negotiation process can
produce pretty realistic results.
Even taking into account that Azerbaijan's military budget already
exceeds the entire budget of Armenia?
It is not just about money. Army is an unprofitable state institution
that offers no benefits. And it is impossible to solve all the problems
by money here. In addition to the budget, there are other aspects. Yes,
demographic situation in Azerbaijan is so favorable that there no
any conscription problems. There are even more recruits than it is
necessary to replenish the Azerbaijani army in all kinds of armed
forces. Technical equipment of our army, too, is much higher.
But we can not stop at what has been achieved given the problems
facing our country.
news.az
Sept 23 2011
Azerbaijan
News.Az interviews Azad Isazade, Azerbaijani military expert.
What are your comments on latest military statements made by the
Armenian political and military leadership during a military parade
in Yerevan?
First of all, one needs to understand that parade is a celebration for
any country. And if wonderful toast and flattering expressions are made
in honor of a bride and a groom at a wedding or in honor of a jubilee
in celebration of anniversary, top government and military commanders
are usually more pathetic in a parade. So, I have not heard anything
surprising in statements of the Armenian president and other officials.
They said what they expected to do. Moreover, this is a country which
is at a conflict and, naturally, they used this platform to send a
message to a neighboring state (which also sends such messages).
Secondly, I appreciate these remarks as a message to their public
because the population is in stress.
There has been arms race in the region in recent years and Armenian
population understands it very well that their country is losing in
this race while it tries to compete with the help of civilian economy,
that is, some social programs and so on. That is, this race primarily
affects budgets of population.
By the way, the Armenian population is reducing day by day...
There is also serious demographic crisis which Armenian authorities
fail to hide. This crisis affects all spheres of life including
military. Armenia simply has not been able to provide the army with
recruits over the last eight years, and maybe more. The conscription
plan is not fulfilled. This situation has been observed from year
to year.
So, it is one thing to gather well-trained soldiers for a parade
and it is another thing to fill military units with rank and file
soldiers. Besides, it does not make a sense to have a good weapon if
there is no one to use it.
Even pro-Armenian media admit that even June military parade in Baku
and the recent one in Yerevan clearly showed that Azerbaijan is ahead
of Armenia for its military power to a great degree...
Definitely. Given that I am always far from groundless praise of the
Azerbaijani army and always try to give an unbiased assessment of its
battle readiness, its superiority in technical sense and in terms of
preparation is obvious.
Azerbaijani army is now superior to Armenian army both technically
and qualitatively. However, we must bear in mind that the Azerbaijani
army faces a task of an offensive war to liberate its territory,
and therefore it should enhance this superiority.
As you know, the attacking side should have superiority as much as
five times and if combat operations are conducted in a mountainous
terrain, then this advantage should be even greater.
That is why numerical or qualitative superiority is not enough,
it should be even higher. In this case the negotiation process can
produce pretty realistic results.
Even taking into account that Azerbaijan's military budget already
exceeds the entire budget of Armenia?
It is not just about money. Army is an unprofitable state institution
that offers no benefits. And it is impossible to solve all the problems
by money here. In addition to the budget, there are other aspects. Yes,
demographic situation in Azerbaijan is so favorable that there no
any conscription problems. There are even more recruits than it is
necessary to replenish the Azerbaijani army in all kinds of armed
forces. Technical equipment of our army, too, is much higher.
But we can not stop at what has been achieved given the problems
facing our country.