The arms race, which Azerbaijan has launched, is a serious threat to the region.

Ruling Republican Party of Armenia MP Koryun Nahapetyan, who heads the National Assembly (NA) delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (PA), stated the aforesaid during the NATO PA Rose-Roth Seminar, which is held in the Azerbaijani capital city Baku.

Nahapetyan stated that the military budget of Azerbaijan has increased by twenty times in the last seven years and he regarded this fact as a threat to the region. Nahapetyan also demanded a strong reaction from the organization in this regard, reported the APA news agency of Azerbaijan.

Subsequently, opposition Heritage Party NA Faction Secretary Tevan Poghosyan, who is a member of the NA delegation to the NATO PA, accused Azerbaijan of instigating the Karabakh conflict. He stated that a large amount of weapons and ammunition had remained in Azerbaijan on the threshold of the collapse of the Soviet Union, and benefiting from these weapons, official Baku had begun to threaten the Armenians in Azerbaijan.  

These statements, however, were not to the liking of the Azerbaijani delegation. Head of the Azerbaijani delegation to the NATO PA, First Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Azerbaijan Ziyafat Asgarov said that the Armenian delegation has been making a provocation in Baku for the past two days. Recalling the “occupied [Azerbaijani] territories” and the “millions of [Azerbaijani] refugees,” the Azerbaijan MP also stated that, “terrorism is a state policy in Armenia today, and [Armenian President] Serzh Sargsyan, who is pursuing this policy, is the number one terrorist in the region.”