Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 10
By Elmira Tariverdiyeva - Trend:
We get surprising news by the end of the year when the results are summed up and the figures are calculated.
Tirelessly complaining that Azerbaijan is constantly armed, "miserable and long suffering" Armenia suddenly and "magically" appeared among the three leaders of the global militarization index. The other two countries are Israel and Singapore.
This index shows the ratio of the country's military office to the society as a whole. In particular, this is the ratio of military spending to GDP and health expenditure (percentage of GDP), as well as the ratio of the number of heavy weapons and the country's population.
Azerbaijan, pressed by Yerevan's complaints for many years, is behind its regional neighbor and is in the top ten.
By the way, Baku's joining the top ten is quite right: as opposed to aggressor Armenia, Azerbaijan has been suffering from the occupation of 20 percent of its territory for more than 20 years. Azerbaijan has one million refugees and internally displaced people, suffered from the ethnic cleansing and expelled from their territory. This country must protect its interests in the region. Finally, the country does not purchase weapons through the social projects and the welfare of people.
Baku is well aware that the regional security problems are directly related to the threats of separatism and crazy actions of Armenia's authorities. A weapon is the best protection against a mad neighbor because you never know what it will do next. This is while on Armenia's side it is at least strange to gear up and prepare for military action.
On one hand, Armenia is "an amazing state", the economy of which has been in agony for years, thanks to Armenian authorities. Aside from that, Armenia, which has no large raw material reserves, doesn't want to accept its failure as a state of South Caucasus.
And this is not surprising, because the poor "apricot republic" has the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh problem, because of which Armenia is in isolation. By the way, Russia, on which Yerevan has always relied as the main ally, seems to understand that the crazy neighbor is not worth the trust.
Moscow, despite Yerevan's cries, sold arms to Azerbaijan in 2014, which, as the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said "is a very sensitive issue, and our people is very concerned that our strategic partner sells weapons to Azerbaijan."
Armenians however, didn't give up, and, apparently, decided to strengthen their fighting spirit. By buying arms.
The purchase of weapons by an occupier country and by a country suffering from occupation - these are two big differences. And Armenia's constant complaints that Azerbaijan is arming itself are irrelevant.
When purchasing weaponry, Yerevan probably didn't think that it is impossible to wage a war for the country which is heavily in debt.
War is expensive. In the past, Armenia relied on Russia for financial and military support, but today, Russia has its own problems and concerns. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan is a rich country with considerable volume of gold and foreign exchange reserve, energy resources and modern weaponry.
Azerbaijan, a country on the territory of which hostilities are still going on, took the most reasonable path. Leaving Yerevan alone against the economic problems, Baku is still trying to resolve the conflict through diplomatic means with the assistance of international organizations and with the support of the international community.
However, unfortunately, Azerbaijan too often faces double standards with respect to the outrageous fact of 20-year occupation.
With this regard, Armenia should remember one thing: given that the international law is constantly violated in the modern world,.. only power can strengthen anyone's rights. And the stronger the army, the stronger the position in the negotiation process.
Samuel Colt, a US inventor and industrialist was right equalizing the rights of weak and strong people. This seems to be the only argument to achieve justice in the modern world.
Edited by SI
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Elmira Tariverdiyeva is Trend Agency's staff observer, follow her on Twitter @EmmaTariver