Yerevan pushes panic button, says Defense Minister

/By AzerNews/

By Mushvig Mehdiyev

The Armenian authorities pushed the panic button over Azerbaijan's high-level combat and moral readiness, a top military official in Azerbaijan said.

Defense Minister, Zakir Hasanov stressed Azerbaijani army's fitting rebuff to enemy's provocations led to a sharp decrease in discipline in the Armenian army.

"Great commotion in the military units got the personnel to avoid serving in the occupied Azerbaijani territories," Hasanov said.

In a battle flag award ceremony on a frontline military unit, Colonel General Hasanov promised to sting the army's battle flag in Nagorno-Karabakh.

"Battle flag is the symbol of the armed unit's honor. We want our battle flags to leave each battlefield proudly and to wave in Karabakh. I'm sure that it will go on this way!" Hasanov vowed.

True to his traditional addresses, Hasanov once more announced that Azerbaijan will never allow Armenia's rulers to create a second Armenian state on Azerbaijani lands.

Consecutive military exercises of the Azerbaijani armed forces highlight the authorities' particular attention and care towards the army amid the ongoing conflict with Armenia. The Defense Ministry set a clear goal to improve troops' combat and moral readiness, and spare no effort in view of achieving such vital goals.

President Ilham Aliyev's direct attention and care to the armed forces aim to improve the army's combat readiness, its sustainable capability and force structure.

The Azerbaijani armed forces have achieved numerous successes in the short-term, reaching the highest level of combat and moral readiness possible.

Azerbaijan is the second country- behind the United Kingdom, in Europe in terms of armament after it increased its arms imports by 249 percent over the past ten years, SIPRI, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reported.

Standing strong against Armenia's unceasing operations along the line of contact, formulating the necessary armament policy by adhering to international requirements comes as a significant move for the Azerbaijani leadership.

As the country is suffering from the occupation of its internationally recognized lands, Azerbaijan's strong military skills should not be considered as an aggressive stance but rather the expression of Baku's desire to protect its people and land.

Azerbaijan's military strengthening goes in line with the country's legal right of liberating its occupied lands by means of war should it be necessary.

Azerbaijan's internationally recognized Nagorno-Karabakh territory has become a conflict zone following Armenia's aggression in the early 1990s. As a result of Armenia's armed invasion, 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory fell under Armenia's occupation. Nonetheless, the OSCE has attempted to foster a peaceful resolution to this conflict amid Armenia's persistent derailment.