YEREVAN, JULY 2, ARMENPRESS. The fact that Azerbaijan is holding military exercises without notifying different sides must be of concern not only for Armenia but also all partner countries, Armenian foreign ministry spokesperson Tigran Balayan told reporters today.

“There are formats where we raise our concern, for example the OSCE has several such formats. No punitive mechanisms for violations of notification are included in the same documents which stipulate that Azerbaijan, or any other country, must notify in advance all other member countries about upcoming exercises. You can raise about it, you can say that there is such a problem, which we do for many years, because Azerbaijan has made it a habit to hold massive military exercises without even notifying through the corresponding closed OSCE system,” he said.

Balayan says that for already a long time Azerbaijan has an image of an irresponsible country in the international arena.

“This is another proof of the irresponsibleness of Azerbaijan’s international relations. In any case, this doesn’t mean that we will stop raising this issue, we will continue our work on a greater scale,” Balayan said.

Azerbaijan is due to hold large scale military exercises July 2-6 involving 20,000 soldiers, 120 tanks and other armored vehicles, 200 rocket-artillery systems, 30 aviation units etc.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan