Azernews.Az

The Azerbaijan Defense Ministry has labeled the military exercises held by Armenian armed forces in the occupied territories in late October as weak, citing the low morale of the servicemen. It also dismissed Armenian claims that new military equipment had been used during the drills.
Azerbaijani parliament members regarded the exercises primarily as being directed at a domestic audience. MP Aydin Mirzazada said that after the wave of mass protests in Armenia which were put down with the use of force in March, President Serzh Sarkisian is using military exercises to legitimize his authority and increase public confidence in him. On the other hand, Yerevan is indignant over Russia`s recently stepped up efforts at resolving the Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict and its holding discussions in this regard with Azerbaijan. Armenia, which has no say in the region, is trying to air its grievances by holding military exercises and thus remind surrounding countries about its presence.
Another MP, Gultakin Hajiyeva, agreed that by holding exercises Armenia, which is trying to create an impression that it has a powerful military, hopes to allay public dissent and create a popular opinion that it has no intention to make concessions on the Garabagh settlement.
Movses Akopian, the "defense minister" of the self-proclaimed Upper Garabagh republic, earlier claimed the breakaway entity`s army had, for the first time, trained in offensive maneuvers during the exercises in order "to ward off the threat posed to the security of Garabagh." He also maintained that "Upper Garabagh`s servicemen will not wait for the day Azerbaijan attacks."
Upper Garabagh is an Azeri region that has been occupied by Armenia since a 1994 cease-fire ended separatist hostilities that killed an estimated 30,000 people and ousted about one million Azeris from their homes. Years of peace talks have brought few tangible result.