Levon Hovsepyan: It is not excluded that Turkey provides a concealed military engineering to Azerbaijan

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 30, ARMENPRESS: The military-political leadership of Turkey tries to play serious role in updating, replenishment and training of the Azerbaijani armed forces, Levon Hovsepyan, senior expert of the Political Researche Institute, said today at a press conference, reminding that still during the Karabakh war Turkey supported Azerbaijan.

According to the expert, as of 2006, the number of the Azerbaijani servicemen trained in the military educations of Turkey, reached nearly 1130, and those of trained in Azerbaijan by Turkish specialists – 4000. “These are official numbers, but it is understandable that actually they can be larger,” Mr. Hovsepyan noted.

“Turkey tries to have serious influence on the Azerbaijani force system and get levies. It is not by chance that a young and middle-aged officer staff has developed in the Azerbaijani armed forces, which has close ties with its Turkish partners, has been trained in Turkey and mainly is Turkey-inclined,” Mr. Hovsepyan said. According to him, a Turkish-inclined officer staff is developing in the Azerbaijani armed forces, which later will make the Azerbaijani army more manageable for Turkey.

Mr. Hovsepyan said that the risks for Armenia are big both in regard to militarization tendencies of Azerbaijan and in regard that Turkey has already taken immediate control over the Azerbaijani army. According to his information, there is a confidential agreement between Azerbaijan and Turkey, by which Azerbaijan cannot start military activities without the approval of Turkey. “It is not excluded that by military-industrial projects of Azerbaijan, Turkey provides a concealed military engineering to Azerbaijan,” the expert said.