ARMENIA CELEBRATES INDEPENDENCE WITH ARMY PARADE

The New Age
Sept 21 2011
South Africa

Armenia flexed its military muscle on Wednesday at a showpiece parade
to mark 20 years of independence from the Soviet Union amid a simmering
territorial conflict with neighbour Azerbaijan.

Some 4,000 troops lined up in Republic Square in the capital Yerevan
accompanied by tanks, missiles, helicopters, fighter planes and,
for the first time, Armenian-manufactured spy drones.

Addressing the parade, President Serzh Sarkisian said that when the
small Caucasus state of 3.2 million people became independent in 1991,
“a huge part of our country was a disaster zone after an earthquake
and we stood on the brink of war”.

“In two decades, we have made a giant leap forward but there is still
a lot that we have not managed to do,” he said.

Sarkisian described Armenian forces’ victory in the 1990s war with
Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorny Karabakh as “the
most glorious page in our recent history”.

Russian troops who have a base in Armenia also took part in the parade
to reflect their role in protecting the country’s national security,
according to the defence ministry.

Armenia has gone through political and military turmoil since
independence amid a series of disputed elections and the war with
Azerbaijan over Karabakh that killed some 30,000 people and sparked
a huge refugee exodus.

The country was hit by a massive earthquake in 1988 that killed some
25,000 people.

The Karabakh conflict has remained unresolved since the ceasefire
in 1994 with regular outbreaks of shooting along the frontline and
repeated threats from Azerbaijan to take back the territory by force
if long-running peace talks don’t yield results. -AFP

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress