The report also says that “Azerbaijan’s steady military modernization, and Armenia’s acquisition of new Russian equipment sustain the risk of large-scale hostilities in 2018.”

Is a large-scale war really possible between Azerbaijan and Armenia in 2018? Engin Ozer, Turkish analyst and a leading expert for the expert-analytical network “Ankara-Moscow” answered this and other questions by Defence.az. 

‘I agree with the director of US National Intelligence Coats that a full-fledged war may start in 2018 between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Why I think so? The thing is that in the last 10-12 years, Azerbaijan has been intensely modernizing its army and engaging in an active military cooperation not only with Russia, but also Israel, Pakistan and Belarus. Whereas Armenia maintains its traditional military cooperation with Russia only’, Ozer noted. 

There is also another factor. When Armenia lost the four-day-long battle in April 2016, Russia supplied its ally with a certain amount of military equipment and allowed military credits to acquire weapons and ammunition, the Turkish expert noted. 

‘Of course, all of these factors make us set sights on a possible war between the two parties. The West, particularly the USA, is greatly pressuring Russia and it is concentrated on its domestic issues and is not interested in the Second Karabakh War. 

I think that war is the only way to solve this problem. And there will be a war between Armenia and Azerbaijan by the end of 2018 and Azerbaijan will certainly win. The most important thing here is that the entire world – the USA, Europe, Turkey, Israel, Muslim countries – everybody supports Azerbaijan in its righteous struggle to restore its territories integrity’, Ozer concluded. 

Leyla Orujova

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