Azerbaijan Acquires American Technology and Subsequently Militarizes It: Suren Sargsyan

Azerbaijan is actively trading with the United States. This was stated by international relations expert Suren Sargsyan in an interview with Tert.am.

The discussion particularly focused on the aircraft and satellites that Azerbaijan imported from the United States last year.

"For quite some time, I have been saying that Azerbaijan has acquired Bell 412 helicopters produced by the United States, obtained from a third country. Although these were initially civilian and not military, it became clear later that they had converted and militarized these helicopters. Currently, these helicopters are not under their civil aviation or the Ministry of Emergency Situations, but are on the balance of the Ministry of Defense. Moreover, they are stationed at a special forces unit's base and will be operating under the command of special forces," he said.

It is noteworthy that Suren Sargsyan had made a post on his Facebook page yesterday, informing that Azerbaijan imported $197 million worth of goods categorized as "aircraft and satellites" from the U.S. in November of last year. The same was done in October as well.

Sargsyan pointed out that Azerbaijan is acquiring American non-military technology, also from third countries, and then militarizing it. "Azerbaijan has acquired civilian aircraft produced by the U.S. from a third country. It later became evident that these were militarized and are now on the Ministry of Defense’s balance, and naturally, have been used against Artsakh and Armenia," he added.