Zaman: Armenian army most combat ready in Caucasus

Zaman: Armenian army most combat ready in Caucasus


December 20, 2010 14:03

In his article titled “Armenia keeps on arming” Fikret Ertan, expert of the Turkish “Zaman” newspaper, stresses that despite being a country with the most combat ready army in the Caucasus, Armenia takes steps aimed at military buildup.

“Despite Armenia has small population it is considered a country with the most professional, well-skilled and flexible armed forces in the Caucasus. It is hard to say whether it is true,” he writes. Ertan recalls that in the past Armenia managed to achieve superiority over Azerbaijan “seizing” 20% of Azerbaijani territories.

“Armenia is not satisfied with present military might and is planning steps to strengthen the army. For instance, program modernizing the armed forces has been adopted. It provides for modernization of equipment and development in 2011-2015. It also stipulates development of country’s own defense industry.

Today Armenia has missiles directed at some targets of the opponent, for instance Russian Scud, tactical ballistic missile. There may be other weapons as well, as it is known that Russia had supplied modern arms to Armenia. The country may possibly have long-range missiles,” the expert says, adding that Russia is also providing assistance to Armenia’s defense industry.

Fikret Ertan noted that Armenia’s opponents should draw attention to the mentioned points, especially long-range missiles Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan was speaking about. “Armenia’s military programs are likely to be directed against its opponents and we should take it into consideration,” he concluded.





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