THE PARADE IN BAKU TICKLES YEREVAN'S NERVES

Azerbaijan signs oil and gas contracts - Armenia is in hysterics, Azerbaijan implements regional transport projects - Armenia is in hysterics, Azerbaijan prepares to launch a communications satellite - Armenia is in hysterics, Azerbaijan wins Eurovision - Armenia is in hysterics again. This tendency throughout the period of the independence of the two neighbouring South Caucasus states could not but make itself felt after the military parade to mark the 20th anniversary of Azerbaijan's independence and the 93rd anniversary of the Armed Forces.

The grand military show in Baku was attended by 6,000 troops, about 400 pieces of military hardware and weapons systems, including up to 50 units of modernized military hardware, 60 units of weapons produced and modernized in Azerbaijan, helicopter gunships, planes, ships and boats.

Of course, any large-scale military parade has its own propaganda purposes. In this case, Baku demonstrated to the world that it has a strong army that can solve all tasks. From this point of view, the panic in Armenia, which has occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijani lands, can be understood.

It is difficult to understand the fact that many Armenian experts and officials tried to present the parade as saber-rattling after the presidents' meeting in Kazan. Yes, the parade was held on 26 June - just two days after the talks in Kazan, mediated by Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev, did not yield the expected results.

But we must not forget that 26 June is the Day of the Azerbaijani Army and preparations for the parade in Azerbaijan began long before the meeting in Kazan. Moreover, this meeting promised to be quite productive and Baku pinned high hopes on it. Therefore, the version that Azerbaijan was preparing in advance to intimidate Armenia after unsuccessful negotiations is also excluded.

However, the fact remains - the failed negotiations to settle the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict in Kazan smoothly turned into a demonstration of the growing military power of Azerbaijan. And this seriously tickled the nerves of the aggressor state.

Baku keeps repeating that it remains committed to peaceful ways of resolving the conflict. It reserves the right to liberate its internationally-recognized land by military means. Opinion polls show that this approach by the authorities is also supported by society. 

According to a survey conducted by the Ray Monitoring Centre immediately after the military parade, residents of Baku consider that the Karabakh problem should be solved peacefully, but they believe in the ability of Azerbaijan to liberate its land by military means.

Most people are convinced that if the war over Nagornyy Karabakh resumes, Azerbaijan will be able to retake the occupied lands from Armenia, according to the survey.

Asked whether Azerbaijan, if necessary, will be able to resolve the Karabakh conflict by military means, 58 per cent said yes, 22 per cent - "rather yes than no", 6 per cent - "no", 4 per cent - "rather no than yes", while the remaining 10 per cent were undecided.

A comparative analysis of surveys in recent years suggests that the population of Azerbaijan is becoming increasingly confident in its army. Public confidence in the armed forces demonstrates a steady growth, and it is directly proportional to the attention the state is paying to army building.

Today, military spending ranks first in the state budget of Azerbaijan and, according to the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, President Ilham Aliyev, "this will be the case until our lands are liberated from occupation."

Over the past six years, Azerbaijan's defence spending has grown by 20 times. If in 2003, Azerbaijan's military spending was $ 160 million, in 2010 that figure exceeded $ 2 billion, and this year it has already reached $ 3.3 billion, which is 50 per cent more than the entire state budget of Armenia.

And in such a situation, Armenia's First Deputy Defence Minister David Tonoyan is trying to persuade the Armenian public that even if Azerbaijan has the Russian anti-aircraft missile system S-300PMU-2 Favorit, "this will not affect the Armenian-Azerbaijani military parity". Continuing to mislead the country's population, Tonoyan stresses that Armenia has its own S-300 systems, but says nothing about the fact that it is an older version of this weapon. The only country in the South Caucasus, which is armed with Favorit, is Azerbaijan.

"To this day, the Azerbaijanis did not have the famous '300', but the Armenians did. Now Baku has bought the latest modification from Russia and hastened to 'outdo' its neighbour who has an old C-300PT," a military expert of Argumenty Nedeli newspaper writes in this regard.

Today, the Azerbaijani army is also supplied with domestic products. The country's defence industry has already begun to justify the investments made in modernization. Enterprises of the Defence Industry Ministry produce different kinds of weapons, ammunition and military vehicles. Among them, observers and experts draw special attention to Qaranqus and Sahin drones, as well as Matador and Marauder armored vehicles.

In parallel, financial and material support and social protection of servicemen are also strengthening. On the occasion of the 93rd anniversary of the Armed Forces, the president signed a decree to increase the salaries of military personnel and civilian employees of the Ministry of Defence by 25 and 10 per cent.

Armenia is threatening to stage its own military parade scheduled for 21 September to mark the 20th anniversary of the country's independence. It is not difficult to guess the achievements with which Armenia, which choking is isolation, can oppose Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, Yerevan continues to feed its people with promises. However, with today's Armenian budget, you cannot feed the people with anything else. And in order to get out of the deplorable state, Yerevan will sooner or later have to abandon its territorial claims against Azerbaijan, and not only.