Azerbaijan's government has consistently bragged about its defense budget, which, starting in 2011, it claimed exceeded Armenia's entire state budget. Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hikmat Hajiyev told the American newspaper Defense News in a story published this week that that "defense spending had enabled the Azerbaijani armed forces to be supplied with requisite advanced weaponry needed to re-take 'its Armenian-held territories.'"
“It is our priority and we will continue to increase military spending," said Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev in 2014. "Over the past 10 years, our military spending has increased more than 20-fold, and our spending allocated to the armed forces is approximately twice as large as Armenia’s overall state budget."
The drop in oil prices means that this level of spending cannot be sustained, so the time to act is now. Russia has a base in Armenia that is a potential threat to Turkey. President Erdogan of Turkey, who may be one of the most dangerous men in the world with his dreams of the restoration of the Ottoman Empire, said, “We pray our Azerbaijani brothers will prevail in these clashes.” Azerbaijan would not have attacked without Turkey's acquiescence.
Will Armenia be center stage for the conflict between Russia and Turkey?
Will Armenia be center stage for the conflict between Russia and Turkey?
Posts
