Don’t Believe It’s Impossible to Buy Weapons; We Have Bought Them, Kocharian Says About Why Azerbaijan Started a War

Former Armenian President Robert Kocharian finds it incomprehensible the ratio of losses Armenia sustained in the recent war. According to him, such a ratio should not have occurred if the soldier had been adequately protected. He made these remarks during a press conference today.

“We need to take the military seriously; for two years, we have been hearing about reforms, yet in the end, a project emerged stating that for 24 million drams, one could be discharged from the army. This is detrimental to the army. It is incomprehensible to me why, over the course of two years, serious fortifications have not been built, and only a few checkpoints have been constructed to show in photographs while the rest remain in disrepair,” said Kocharian.

According to him, the government claims it has the funds for military reforms; if so, why haven’t they built such fortifications that could serve as a deterrent for the adversary? “There is no fortification that cannot be breached, but the purpose of fortifications is to help us exit a situation with fewer losses,” he added.

All of this, according to Kocharian, signifies that no lessons have been learned since the 44-day war. “Don’t believe claims that buying weapons is impossible; we have purchased weapons from Russia, Europe, and China. Azerbaijan did not start the war because it has become much stronger, but rather knowing full well that we have weakened,” he stated.