BAKU (RFE/RL)–Azerbaijan is closely examining a new military accord signed by Armenia and Russia to determine its conformity with multilateral arms controls treaties, a senior aide to President Ilham Aliyev said on Wednesday.
“The latest agreement signed by Armenia and Russia is an inter-state issue,” Ali Hasanov, the head of the public-political department at Aliyev’s administration, was quoted by Azerbaijani media as telling journalists. “But the security of the South Caucasus and the deployment of conventional and strategic weapons in the region as well as the question of their quantity is not an issue concerning only the two countries.”
Hasanov said the Russian-Armenian pact must not run counter to the 1992 Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty that limits the maximum number of troops and military hardware each state in Europe and the former Soviet Union can have. “The weapons deployed by Russia in the South Caucasus must not exceed Armenia’s [arms] quotas,” he said.
“Right now, our specialists as well as OSCE officials dealing with the issue are calculating whether that quota has been breached. After the clarification process is over, the government of Azerbaijan will publicize its position on the issue,” he added, according to the APA news agency.
Hasanov claimed that the Armenian military has already violated CFE quotas by deploying large quantities of weapons in Nagorno-Karabakh, an area effectively not covered by the treaty.
Armenia has repeatedly denied such claims. It has also for years accused Azerbaijan of exceeding arms ceilings set by the OSCE. A top Armenian military official warned in late 2007 that Yerevan could pull out of the CFE if Baku continues its military build-up “in contravention of that treaty.”
Azerbaijan’s reaction to the Russian-Armenian accord has been rather cautious until now. A spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry expressed hope last week that Russia will not use its troops stationed in Armenia against Azerbaijan.
Still, Baku indicated its unease over the development in more explicit terms on Wednesday. “We have now all the grounds to call Armenia a dependent country,” Defense Ministry spokesman Eldar Sabiroglu told APA. “Whether or not Armenia has earned that status voluntarily doesn’t matter. Armenia has thereby fully disgraced itself before the international community.”
What did Azerbaijan think? They can build up their military and we can not? The balance of forces is preserved with this agreement and both azerbaijan and turkey will think twice before attacking Armenia or Karabagh again.
Nothing ceases to amaze me coming from Azeris anymore. Their people are living in box carts in railway stations while their government is spending billions of dollars from oil revenues on military and telling us what we can and can not have? The Azeri government is a joke and has nothing better to do than slander us instead of using all that oil revenues to improve the condition of their people.
Well what else do you expect from a fascist chauvinist government who is morally so beaten up that nothing matters to it but the restoration of its shattered ego. It’s time, after 20 years, to face up to the reality that Karabakh never was, is not, and will never be Azeri territory. In fact, it was always an autonomous region and NEVER part of independent so-called Azerbaijan. It is as Armenian as Armenian Khachkars.
I hope our military ties with Russia increase to a point that we can install nuclear weapons both in Armenia and Karabakh and point them towards Baku and Ankara, God willing!
The similarities among muslim dictatorships are quite interesting. The Azeri dictatorship is no exception. Although they are not even worth being degnified by a response, for the sake of public relations, Armenians should respond like a rapid fire. Look who’s talking?! a country that has broken every single rule regarding limited militarization has the audacity to question Armenia’s over militarization! They get startled that Armenia is determined to be protected from turkish/azeri potential attack. I am glad that the Armenian government has taken the necessary steps to thwart the azeri aggression, and to guarantee the Armenian security for the foreseeable future. And any Armenian that does not understand the necessity of the recent Armenian initiatives with Russia should google & learn that the same exact barberic language that are used by today’s jihadists & imams, were used by the turkish imams 100 years ago which led to the complete eradication of the Armenian nation from their homeland.
We should realize that the fight between a muslim and a Christian society is never a fair fight since the former never adheres to the norms of human decency, but the latter does. It’s really rooted in the character of Jesus & Mohamed. The former is the epidemy of understanding the natural law & its most sincere proponent, and the latter’s message is nothing but ruin, murder, violence, imposition, rape, sexual perversion, etc. And so any society that would adhere to a “religion” (though islam is no religion but a violent ruling system) that is based on murder & violence must by definition have barberic tendencies. Therefore, it would only be wise to be adequately protected. God bless Armenia & Armenians. (Oh, for those that are paranoid, when I say Armenia or Armenian land, I also mean Artsakh!)
Disgraced??
What about the country that burned down and looted several Armenian houses, tortured to death several thousands of their inhabitants, including women, children and elderly people?
What about the country that never knew what the principles of democracy, freedom of speech, and self determination mean?
What about the country that arrests one of its own citizens because he voted for Armenia in the Eurovision song contest?
What about the country that banned a book (that otherwise sounds interesting) from all its libraries and made several threats on its author, just because the book is about a love story between an Azeri and an Armenian?
What about the country that threatens a member of its own presidential family, just because of having a romantic relationship with an Armenian??
What about the country that does not know what respect for historical monuments means, vandalizes and destroys, eventually, hundreds of historical monuments, as early as 5 years ago?
What about the country that presents maps of itself on the internet with Lake Sevan as “Lake Goycha, in West Azerbaijan” and declares that “Armenians already got an independent state on Azerbaijani territory, we won’t let them have another one”?
What about all this…???
WHAT AN SELFDECEIVED HYPOCRIT !!!.
Hasanov said the Russian-Armenian pact must not run counter to the 1992 Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty that limits the maximum number of troops and military hardware each state in Europe and the former Soviet Union can have. “The weapons deployed by Russia in the South Caucasus must not exceed Armenia’s [arms] quotas,” he said.
AZERBADJAN HAS TREATHED MILITARY ACTION AGAIST ARMENIA ,
AND NOW THEY ARE SAYING THAT ARMENIA MUST STAY LOW IN NUMBER OF ITS MILITARY TROOPS AND PROTECTIVE FORCES.
AMAZING WHAT KIND OF FOOLISHNESS AND IDIOCY
Arn.
Azerbaijan instead examining new Russian-Armenian military pact, Azerbaijan authorities should first read once again the new approved anti Armenian Military doctrine and think once again about there racist state ideology and state organize hate campaign against Armenian people !