Azerbaijan's army ranks 50th in world
By Mushvig Mehdiyev
The US-based Global Firepower survey center has put the Azerbaijani army at 50th place in the list of world's strongest armies.
The reports notes that Azerbaijan's weapon arsenal possesses 544 tanks, 125 aircrafts, 79 helicopters, 47 naval vehicles to enter the list of countries with well-equipped military forces in the world.
Despite its modest frontline strength, Azerbaijan can call upon hundreds of thousands of reserves, according to the Global Firepower's 2015 Report.
The Global Firepower develops its ranking based on over 50 factors to determine each nation's Power Index score. It provides the final ranking and allows smaller, lesser-developed countries to compete with larger and technologically-advanced ones.
Azerbaijan left behind the CIS and regional countries, including Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, as well as the other countries such as Romania, Portugal, Hungary, Colombia and Greece to take its place among the first 50 strongest militaries of the world.
The Global Firepower has not given any place to another South Caucasus state, Armenia in its ranking given the post-Soviet nation's failure to meet the required criteria.
The GFP has taken into account the manpower, land systems, air power, naval power, as well as natural resources, logistical skills, financial condition, geographical position to determine the military strength of 106 nations in its recent report.
The army of the U.S. topped the list followed by Russia and China, sharing the top three positions in the ranking. They are followed by India, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Turkey, South Korea and Japan to be the world's top ten strongest military nations.
Uzeyir Jafarov, a military expert, hailed the news that Azerbaijani army is among the world's strongest armies in his interview with AzerNews, saying:
"Azerbaijan is a young and independent country which has not enough experience in the field of military. Thus, its ranking in the Global Firepower's recent report is a positive sign. Azerbaijan has purchased numerous weapons from foreign countries including Turkey, Russia and Israel, to modernize and upgrade its armed forces. Moreover, the country has increased its military expenditures and signed military contracts with over 20 countries which envisage a large-scale weapons supply. Azerbaijan will likely improve its position in the report next year due to the above facts," Jafarov said.
Commenting on Armenia's possible stance on the report, Jafarov noted: "Armenia has no moral and legal right to criticize Azerbaijan's militarization, since it keeps over 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory under its occupation and violates the international law."
Azerbaijan is a top country in the South Caucasus in terms of military expenditure, as the country's current military budget for 2015 is about $5 billion, which exceeds the inimical Armenia's total budget nearly by $2 billion.
The ongoing conflict with the occupant Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh, seven adjacent regions and historical lands of Azerbaijan, has forced the country to strengthen its military capabilities against continuous Armenian provocations.
Although, a peaceful end to the conflict is the only preferred solution now, Azerbaijani authorities don't exclude the option of liberating their legal and historical lands by force.
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