YEREVAN, MARCH 9, ARMENPRESS. Political scientist Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan believes that the latest Azerbaijani military exercises  shouldn’t cause any concern.

In an interview to ARMENPRESS Mr. Melik-Shahnazaryan said Azerbaijan holds such exercises every year, and even several times during a single year.

“One of their goals is for it [exercises] to be viewed as a threat in Armenia or a reason for concern, but naturally I think there is no reason to be worried – generally these kind of  processes shouldn’t deserve the attention of our society,” he said, adding that the intelligence level of the Armenian military is on a very high level.

According to the political analyst Azerbaijan is carrying out domestic propaganda by holding these exercises, but at the same time the Azeri military seek to test the combat readiness of their armed forces. “I believe this time they’ll try to learn something new again”, he said.

Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan didn’t also rule out that such military drills can be pre-election measure.

The Armenian foreign ministry also commented on Azerbaijan’s decision to hold the large scale military exercises.

“25 thousand people, 250 units of armored battle vehicles, 1000 missile-artillery systems, 50 aviation units will take part in the largest election campaign. Analysts are racking their brains over the speech topic of the candidate with the biggest star on his epaulette”, foreign ministry spokesperson Tigran Balayan mockingly said.

The Azeri president ordered the large scale military exercises to be held March 12-17.

English –translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan