Armenian experts treat reservists' training as unprecedented

Armenia has launched the largest military training in 30 years. Azerbaijan and Turkey have deliberately opposed them with their military exercises in Nagorno-Karabakh, military experts assert.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 6-11, joint exercises with Turkey were held in the Lachin District of Azerbaijan.

The Azerbaijani-Turkish exercises demonstrated to Armenia the vulnerability of the Lachin Corridor that links Yerevan with Stepanakert and is controlled by Russian peacemakers, Armenian political analysts have noted.

On September 15, a three-month training session for officers and enlisted military personnel with the participation of 869 reservists will begin in Armenia, the Armenian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has informed. In parallel, another training session for 2169 reservists is held.

These are the largest military training sessions in the history of independent Armenia, Karen Ovannisyan, an expert has noted. Another peculiarity of the sessions is that reservists are busy on alert duty, he has added.

Mger Akopyan, another expert, has called the training sessions as unprecedented, explaining that after the defeat in the autumn war in Karabakh, retraining of reservists has become actual.

He also believes that the military training in Armenia and the Turkish-Azerbaijani exercises are interlinked. "The neighbours' aggressive behaviour is obvious; and we should be ready for any scenario of events," Mr Akopyan has stressed.