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Eurasia
July 28, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 19
Azerbaijan puts on military show of force amid new Armenia, human rights tensions bne IntelliNews
Azerbaijan is set to participate in a number of re- gional military competitions as part of the Interna- tional Army Games 2017, according to the Russian and Azerbaijani defence ministries. Its participation amounts to a show of force that is likely meant to intimidate its neighbour and arch-enemy Armenia.
Thus, on July 23, Russian, Kazakh and Iranian vessels arrived in Baku to participate in the Sea Cup 2017 war games, the Russian military de- fence ministry said in a statement. The ships will compete in a race to hit small targets at sea and air targets and to neutralise buoyant mines.
Meanwhile, the Azerbaijani defence ministry re- ported that a mission had departed to Moscow on July 24 to participate in other competitions that form part of International Army Games 2017, such as the "tank biathlon" and "field kitchen". A second mission is preparing to leave for Kazakhstan to participate in sniper and artillery competitions, the report added.
International Army Games is a competition or- ganised by the Russian defence ministry that comprises of over a dozen military skill contests. The challenges will be held in Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China and in the Russian occupied Ukrainian province of Crimea. It is unclear wheth- er Azerbaijan will send a team to participate in the diving competition in Sevastopol, Crimea.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Azerbaijan has spent over $30bn bolstering its military in the last two dec- ades. It and Armenia are in a state of frozen conflict over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, one of the long-standing unresolved territorial conflicts that emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The parties signed a ceasefire agree- ment in 1994 that has been frequently violated in recent years. In April 2016 alone, over 200 died in a
three-day war that resulted in Azerbaijan recaptur- ing a small portion of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Russia has become known for selling weapons to both Azerbaijan and Armenia while at the same time acting as conflict resolution mediator. On July 21, of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev held an unan- nounced meeting in Sochi.
Baku's military prowess has become the subject of increased international attention in recent months. On July 24, Canada's public news broadcaster CBC ran a feature about a Toronto-based manufacturer of armoured vehicles, INKAS, and its cooperation with the Azerbaijani defence forces, criticising the Canadian government for granting the company a permit to export its products to Azerbaijan.
INKAS has exported an unspecified number of armoured vehicles to Baku and set up a joint venture with the Azerbaijani interior ministry to produce the equipment in Azerbaijan.
In recent years, the Aliyev administration has jailed dozens of critics of his regime over trumped up charges of economic crimes. The crackdown, which has on occasion extended to targeting Azerbai- janis living abroad and even foreigners, has been heavily criticised by the international community.
As recently as July 24, an Azerbaijani court con- victed opposition politician Faiq Amirli to three years behind bars for "inciting religious hatred and violating the rights of citizens under the pretext of conducting religious rites", according
to Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). Amirli was arrested in August 2016 and was found to possess books written by Turkish exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara has pursued re- lentlessly since a failed coup d'etat in July 2016.
The ownership of the books appears to have been