(MENAFN- AzerNews)
Qabil Ashirov read more The fickleness of Armenians bothers not only its enemies but
also its allies, as well. Armenia is the only country in the
region, no one, including themselves, can make out its position.
They are the strategic ally of Russia in the region, and Armenian
Air Defense System (ADS) is integrated into Russia's ADS and so on.
On the other hand, they go the extra mile to host the military base
of NATO members such as France. In parallel with all of these, they
wheedle Israel to provide Armenia with sophisticated weapons, and
simultaneously they are eager to develop their relationship with
Iran, the arch-enemy of Jews.
It is worth noting that it is not of recent Armenian
disposition, but Armenia's monkeyish character that dates back to
thousands years. For example, Armenia was one of six countries
voting to break away from Russia in the last referendum held in the
USSR at the end of the 1980s. However, today Armenia is the only
country among the six ones to be a strategic ally of Russia. Even
Alexandre Dumas criticizes their weak-kneed features in his book Le
Caucase: Impressions de voyage; suite de En Russie (1859).
Due to their indecisiveness, peace talks between Azerbaijan and
Armenia over Karabakh have reached an impasse for thirty years.
There is no single day that Armenians accuse each other of betrayal
in the mass-media, and make provocation against the Azerbaijan Army
to hinder the peace talks. The last such kind of article was
written by Suren Sargsyan, an expert on US foreign policy and
researcher. The author touched on the US initiative to the peace
talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and the last provocation in
Karabakh. Needless to say that he accuses the USA of taking
advantage of the Ukrainian crisis, put the blame on the Azerbaijani
side for all provocations done by Armenians, and tries to create
images as if Azerbaijan is under Turkiye's shadow.
We, Azerbaijanis, are used to such kind of Armenian opprobrium,
especially after the 44-day War. Obviously, the result of the war
was a big blow to the Armenian propaganda that had been made for 30
years. Since the Armenian side could not explain the reasons for
their humiliating defeat, they started to agitate that not
Azerbaijan but Turkiye waged the war against Armenia in 2020.
Besides, the author is so unprofessional that he aims to blame
Azerbaijan for provocations, but he reveals the truth. He
emphasizes that Russia and the USA compete in the peace talks. Both
of them have their own agendas. According to him, Russia aims to
freeze the conflict, but the USA wants to resolve it in favor of
Azerbaijan. It is crystal clear when the top diplomats of the two
South Caucasus countries go to the West to discuss peace talks,
provocations happen in Karabakh and on the Azerbaijan-Armenian
border. Taking into account that the stance of the West suits
Azerbaijan, so the provocateur is obvious. In other words, since
the stance of the West is against Armenian interests, they try to
impede the peace talks. Besides, it also foreshadows that Russian
control on the Armenian Army is stronger than Armenian.
Overall, reading the article, I have no other option but to
think that the author covertly accuses Pashinyan of betrayal, and
using tempting words to provoke citizens and to pressure the PM not
to sign peace with Azerbaijan.
As for the USA taking advantage of Russia's involvement in the
war with Ukraine, it is ridiculous. I do accept that the USA is
interested in the resolving Karabakh crisis but it does not mean
that America draws water to its own mill. On the contrary, the USA
aims to save Armenia and make it viable. Observing the Syrian and
Ukrainian wars, some could easily realize that no country in the
world, including the USA and Russia, can speak in military wording
with Azerbaijan. Yes, Azerbaijan is not strong enough to march to
Moscow or Washington, but on the other hand, any military operation
against Azerbaijan is doomed to fail.
For more detail, it is enough to recall that the USA and its
allies did not dare to use military aircrafts to bombard Syria in
April 2018, as they had done in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yugoslavia.
They launched 105 most sophisticated Tomakawt missiles, but Syria
was able to shoot down 75 of them. In other words, if the Allies
used aircrafts, 75 percent of them won't return. Later, Israel's
F35 was injured by Syrian Air Defense right after violating the
Syrian Air Space. Besides, prior to obtaining Patriot Air Defense
System, Ukraine used the same Air Defense System and lowered over
300 military airplanes and 300 helicopters. For comparison,
according to the data spread on the internet, Iran has 210 military
aircrafts and 60 military helicopters, Turkiye, which is the second
biggest Army in NATO, has about 300 military aircrafts and 100
military helicopters, and France obtains 200 military aircraft and
70 helo.
Syrian and Ukrainian Air Defense Systems are comprised of S125,
S200, and S300. Among them, S300, which was produced in the 1990s,
is considered modern. In addition to the same systems, Azerbaijan
has Barrak missiles which were produced in the 2000s. So,
Azerbaijan's Air Defense System is more modern than said countries
and can cause damages more than they did.
The range of Himars MRLS given to Ukraine is 80 km, but the
range of analogs of the same system which Azerbaijan obtains is 150
km (Turkish Gasirga), 300 km (Belorussian Palanez), and 400 km
(Israeli Lora). Ukraine can strike a maximum of 250 km, however,
with the help of Harpy and Harop Azerbaijan can strike 600 km and
1000 km respectively.
When the war started Ukraine had one military ship and no
anti-ship missiles. Later Ukraine developed Neptune and the West
gave Ukraine Harpoon (the range of both of them is about 300 km).
In contrast to Ukraine, Azerbaijan has over 40 ships and Gabriel
missiles, ranging 300 km. Besides, Harop and Harpies can be used
against military boats. For comparison, Iran has 12 military ships
in the Caspian Sea.
As for anti-tank missiles, it is worth noting that Ukraine
destroyed over 4000 Russian tanks. For comparison, the USA has
6,000 tanks, France 300, and the UN 230. The long-ranged Ukrainian
anti-tank missile is Stugna with 6 km. According to the data
circulating on the internet, Azerbaijan obtains the same missile or
analogs of anti-tank missiles which are being used by Ukraine. In
addition, Azerbaijan uses Israeli Spikes with 25 km ranges.
In other words, any country that intends to conduct military
operations in Azerbaijan will be deprived of tanks, air force, and
naval fleets.
So, with all data in mind, the USA is well aware that
Azerbaijan's patience has limits, and testing it could cause
undesirable consequences for Armenia. Analyzing the Syrian and
Ukrainian crises, which it partakes actively, the USA knows that
neither Russia nor the USA can save Armenia, let alone Iran and
France. So, it goes the extra mile to persuade Armenia and Armenian
society that the inducements of Iran and France are baseless. So it
proved to be that Armenia can be viable only by accepting the
condition declared by Azerbaijan.
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Qabil Ashirov is AzerNews' staff journalist, follow him on
Twitter: @g_ashirov