The Global Firepower research center has identified the countries’ military strength for 2021. According to the organization, Azerbaijan ranks 63rd in the list of 138 countries.

Faktyoxla Lab. has investigated how true this ranking is.

First of all, there are good reasons to claim that there is no complete, comprehensive approach to the formation of the list, in which Croatia ranks 62nd and Kazakhstan 64th.

Let’s take, for example, the fact that the Kazakh army stands near and the Azerbaijani army on the list. In fact, the report of the Kazakh side on the results of 2021 contains dozens, hundreds of articles and reports on the development, security and increase of power in the army. According to the provisions of the Kazakhstan 2050 Strategy, it can be considered the strongest army in Central Asia. But when it comes to reality, we see that those programs, theses and indicators are not important when specific requirements are set. During the riots in Kazakhstan in early January, it became clear what professional qualities the country’s army had. The army almost surrendered to a group of saboteurs.

“Kazakhstan’s army has not been able to cope with the tasks assigned to it during the riots in the country in January 2022,” President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said at a meeting with the leadership of the Defense Ministry. “During the January events, the armed forces were unable to carry out their tasks with dignity due to extreme uncertainty and lack of initiative,” Tokayev said. He also explained the decision to dismiss Defense Minister Murat Bektanov by “failing to demonstrate commanding qualities.” (Source)

Well, let’s say that the think tank conducted the rating research before the events in Kazakhstan. Therefore, a mistake was made about the army of this country.

How come Croatia is on the list along with Azerbaijan? No one remembers the last military operation carried out by the Croatian army. At best, it could be protecting facilities in some NATO forces area.

Interestingly, the case is not that the Croatian and Kazakh armies are equal to the Azerbaijani army. Global Firepower ranked the Armenian army 97th on the list. The army that Azerbaijan destroyed in the 44-day war is only 31 points behind our army. But there is another, very strange fact that it is important to pay attention to. The point is that, according to the research center, the Armenian army has developed significantly. Before the 44-day war, Armenian army ranked 112^th, then was ranked 100^th, and then 97th.

At least 10,000 officers and soldiers of the army raised to the 97th rank have been charged with desertion, treason, corruption, careless handling of weapons, ammunition theft and other charges. What kind of professionalism, what kind of army, what kind of rating are we talking about in a country whose borders are protected by another state?

However, many military experts, regional scholars and political scientists around the world consider Azerbaijan as the strongest state in the region. The article, prepared by Taras Kuzio, professor in political science based at the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy and a Non-Resident Fellow in the Foreign Policy Institute, Johns Hopkins University, notes Azerbaijan’s military strength and its strong political presence in the region with three factors.

The first is NATO standards training provided by Turkey to Azerbaijani officers and elite military units. A total of 13 joint training exercises were held between Turkey and Azerbaijan in 2019 alone, the year before the 44-day war. This training and successful military experience have transformed Azerbaijan’s armed forces into a NATO-level standards army.

The second is the large amount of high technology military equipment imported from Israel and Turkey. Azerbaijan is the second and fourth-largest importer respectively of military equipment from Israel and Turkey.

Third, Azerbaijan’s 21st-century army defeated Armenia’s army, which remained stuck in the Soviet’s 20th century.

Sufficient information about the Azerbaijani Army can be found in most foreign sources. In addition, a comparative analysis of the Armenian and Azerbaijani armies can be found.

In conclusion, we would like to draw your attention to a quote: “The Turkish-Azerbaijani-Israeli axis has still a lot of potential to develop regional security in the Greater Middle East. The US and NATO should recognize the emergence of this axis by granting Azerbaijan Major Non-NATO Ally status, which would open up opportunities for Baku to receive security cooperation and military assistance from Washington. Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia and Kuwait already have this status. Turkey and Israel have long been known as medium-sized military powers. It is time that we recognize that a new military power – Azerbaijan – has joined their axis.”

That is, the difference is so great.

The table, published by Global Firepower, is called the Military Strength Ranking, which takes the country’s combat potential as the main criterion. The publication states that it has compiled a rating index based on more than 50 different indicators. The main criteria are the number of military personnel, tanks, ships, aircraft and other military equipment, as well as the level of its funding, the country’s transport infrastructure, fuel and lubricants reserves and other factors affecting the army’s combat effectiveness.

Which of these items has developed in the Armenian army after the 44-day war? What has the Azerbaijani army achieved during this period? The Azerbaijani Army has completely refilled the military ammunition used in the Great Patriotic War. New aircraft were purchased. In addition, several contracts have been signed for the purchase of state-of-the-art weapons and ammunition. A new type of army, army unit and commando units have been created and this process is continuing. Important military infrastructure projects have been implemented in Karabakh and East Zangazur.

Some 700 km of modern roads have been laid and 3 airports are being built in the liberated territories to increase the army’s maneuverability. The Research Center doesn’t see an army that has done so much global work in the last year and a half since the war. Instead, it is claimed that the army is developing in Armenia, where criminal proceedings have been instituted against 10,000 soldiers and officers, and even against the captives returned by Azerbaijan as a humanist step. Even the leaders and generals of the Armenian army say that such an institution no longer functions.

Former Armenian Prime Minister Hrant Bagratyan admitted in a press release that “80% of our army is missing, it has been destroyed. There is no army, this is not a defeat, this is a fiasco.” (Source)

There is talk of the development of that army, whose soldiers cannot even find a tent on the border with Azerbaijan to hide. As they say, Armenian soldiers use the method used by the forest dwellers and build shelters from reeds and twigs.

From this study, it can be concluded that the Global Firepower list was not prepared according to the announced criteria, the data were compiled based on general, statistical indicators, rather than solid facts. Global Firepower not only ignores the facts known to everyone, but also seriously undermines the professionalism of its research. Why should an authoritative military research center damage its reputation because of the Armenian army, which signed the act