Instigator / Pro
1
1711
rating
33
debates
84.85%
won
Topic
#1382

Azerbajan is Greater than Armenia as of now

Status
Finished

The debate is finished. The distribution of the voting points and the winner are presented below.

Winner & statistics
Winner
1
0

After 1 vote and with 1 point ahead, the winner is...

Trent0405
Parameters
Publication date
Last updated date
Type
Standard
Number of rounds
3
Time for argument
One week
Max argument characters
3,500
Voting period
One week
Point system
Winner selection
Voting system
Open
Contender / Con
0
1551
rating
26
debates
57.69%
won
Description

Lets debate. Thank you Police sheep for graciously accepting my challenge

Round 1
Pro
#1
                                                                    Standard of living Quality of life and Geography


Education and Academic achievement 

Azerbaijan has a much better education system than Armenia, with Azerbaijan ranking 67th, while Armenia ranks 98th. If we go deeper we find Armenia has never won a Nobel prize, but Azerbaijan has.

Quality of life

Azerbaijan ranks slightly higher than Armenia on quality of life, with Armenia ranking 83rd and Azerbaijan ranking 80th.

Homicide Rate

Azerbaijan is better off here as well, with Azerbaijan sitting at 85th, and Armenia ranking 100th.

Geography and Demographics 

Azerbaijan Is 86,600 square kilometers, while Armenia is only 29,743, despite other categories in this segment being close Azerbaijan is a staggering 291% difference here. Azerbaijan also has a population consisting of 10 million people, while Armenia only has 2.9 million, this is once again a massive difference.

Armenian atrocities

Armenia has violated cease-fires with Azerbaijan 22 times. But, what else did Armenia do? Well they destroyed 17 mosques in just one region of occupied Azerbaijani land, this may be because Armenia is 94.8% Christian. This is not what a moral virtuous nation would do.

                                               

                                                                                         Power

Economy

Azerbaijan is much better off in this department, holding an economy that’s 46.94 billion dollars large, this makes the Azerbaijani economy 377% of the Armenian economy, even per person Azerbaijan is 12% better off. 

But, if we go a little deeper we find that Azerbaijan exports over 700% more than Armenia, and  we find Azerbaijan producing the 23rd most amount of oil, with Armenia ranking 116th.

Military


Tourism

Azerbaijan has way more tourism, ranking 84th world wide with Armenia ranking 104th.


Con
#2
Thank you very much for your initial argument.

Democracy

Armenia has just changed classification from an authoritarian regime to a hybrid regime due to recent constitutional changes giving the elected Parliament more power rather than the majority of the power resting with the President. Azerbaijan, on the other hand, is still classed as an authoritarian regime

Armenia has better civil liberties with a score of 5.59 compared to Azerbaijan's 3.35.

Armenia also has a better electoral process and better pluralism with a score of 5.25 which is in stark contrast to Azerbaijan's score of only 0.5.

Media

Armenia, according to the same report, has a more free media, ranking 109th and classified as mostly unfree compared to Azerbaijan's completely unfree media ranking with a score of 0 making it have the joint worse media in the world along with countries such as North Korea and Syria.

Education and Academic Achievement 

Armenia has the better primary school teacher to pupil ratio standing at 9:1 rather than Azerbaijan's 11:1 thus giving pupils' more care and attention.



The MRI machine is an Armenian invention with Dr. Raymond Damadian was an Armenian doctor. His medical research led him to invent the MRI. He was the first doctor to perform a full-body scan of a person to diagnose cancer and has received many awards for his work and research.

Natural Resources

Armenia has natural resources such as gold, copper, molybdenum, zinc and bauxite - many of which are absent from Azerbaijan.

Health


Azerbaijan also has a higher amount of underweight under-5 year-olds at 4.9% compared to Armenia's 2.6%.


 




Round 2
Pro
#3
I'll focus more now on rebuttals, I'd implore my opponent to do the same.

Education Rebuttals
The MRI machine is an Armenian invention with Dr. Raymond Damadian was an Armenian doctor.
This isn't true, this doctor was born in New York, and Wikipedia classifies him as an American physician, and a medical practitioner.

This point merely proves that Armenia is less efficient with it's spending considering that they rank lower than Azerbaijan world wide for education.

This isn't true, she was born in New York city not Armenia.

Health Rebuttals

Azerbaijan also has a higher amount of underweight under-5 year-olds at 4.9% compared to Armenia's 2.6%.

I can’t access your source sadly, I’ll take your word for it.

Well overall Azerbaijan has a lower percentage of it’s population that’s malnourished, so in the grand scheme of things Azerbaijan still ranks higher.

Consider the following...


Armenia also Suffers more deaths as a result of aids than Azerbaijan.

And lastly Azerbaijan holds more hospital beds per capita than Armenia, with Azerbaijan ranking 12th, and Armenia ranking 57th out of 190 countries. 

Natural resources rebuttals

Armenia has natural resources such as gold, copper, molybdenum, zinc and bauxite - many of which are absent from Azerbaijan

Well Azerbaijan produced 1,895 KG of gold, while Armenia  produced  3.1 thousand KG, both nations produce insanely small quantities, even your source admits this.  This can't be compared to Azerbaijan's massive lead for oil production. Also consider that oil is the second most sought after resource just behind fresh water, also note the resources you brought up aren't on the list. Also number 3 on the list, natural gas, Azerbaijan also leads there as this source states. Lastly there is water where Azerbaijan leads too.

So Azerbaijan produces more of the top 3 most sought after resources. 

Also I forgot to source my oil production point from R1 here it is, I apologise, if I forgot any other sources tell me please.

Democracy/Media

I agree that Armenia is freer, but why is freedom so important? Well because it indicates how good the life of the populous is, well I've already established that Azerbaijani's have a higher quality of life. If we go deeper we find that Azerbaijani people also enjoy a larger disposable salary after taxes and cost of living. Maybe freedom is important because it shows how virtuous the nation is, well a virtuous nation wouldn't violate a ceasefire 22 times. So maybe in this particular category Armenia leads, overall though Azerbaijan leads slightly.

Innovation

Azerbaijan also innovates more, running low on characters but here is my source.


Final

My opponent hasn't been able to convey how Armenia is stronger than Azerbaijan other than his natural resources point which I feel I've debunked, Azerbaijan leads in health, geography, population, education, military, quality of life, and economically. 


Again, tell me if I forgot to source something please so I can fix it. Thank you Police Sheep for a great debate so far.





Con
#4
I will also focus on rebuttals, as requested by my opponent.

Education Rebuttals
This isn't true, this doctor was born in New York, and Wikipedia classifies him as an American physician, and a medical practitioner.

Both of these people are duel nationals of both America and of Armenia - as described in the source. I concede that both of these individuals did the majority of their work in the United States of America.

Azerbaijan has a much better education system than Armenia, with ranking 67th, while Armenia ranks 98th. If we go deeper we find Armenia has never won a Nobel prize, but Azerbaijan has.
On the ranking list you provided as a source, it has nations that have better education systems that have also not had a recipient of the Nobel Prize in any field that was educated in that nations education system in the top 20 education systems. These include:
  • Estonia (7th), 
  • Isreal (9th)
  • Kazakhstan (15th)
  • Slovenia (16th)
  • Georgia (17th)
  • Singapore (18th)
Therefore, I conclude that having someone educated in a countries education system and receiving a Nobel prize is not related.

Also, Azerbaijan has never had a person win the Nobel Prize that was born and educated in their education system. Lev Landau was born in the Soviet Union and won his prize for the USSR. It is only using the modern country boundaries that it would be considered Azerbaijan which would be inaccurate.

Health Rebuttals 

Armenia also Suffers more deaths as a result of aids than Azerbaijan.

And lastly Azerbaijan holds more hospital beds per capita than Armenia, with Azerbaijan ranking 12th, and Armenia ranking 57th out of 190 countries. 

Economic Rebuttals

Azerbaijan is much better off in this department, holding an economy that’s 46.94 billion dollars large.

Media/Democracy Rebuttals

I agree that Armenia is freer, but why is freedom so important?
I would argue that freedom is neither a mesure of virtuosity nor quality of life as my opponent suggests. Freedom is important because it leads to enhanced expressions of creativity and original thought and increased productivity. 

You also brought up the point of;
well a virtuous nation wouldn't violate a ceasefire 22 times
The definition of virtuous is having or showing high moral standards, according to the OED. I would argue that failing to uphold the human rights of freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. Azerbaijan has failed to do this so I would propose that Armenia is more virtuous than Azerbaijan.

Conclusion

My opponent has made some valid points, however, when compared and put into context, I have proved that Armenia is the better country - particularly in the area of freedom.

Thank you for a lovely debate. I look forward to the final round.


Round 3
Pro
#5
I want to thank my opponent for his response

Education
Both of these people are duel nationals of both America and of Armenia - as described in the source.
I realized this is not relevant to the resolution given that it says “as of now”, but Armenia despite these anecdotal cases lags behind Azerbaijan when it comes to innovation, and Azerbaijan still ranks higher than Armenia internationally for education. I have also been able to prove Armenia spends on education poorly, when compared to Azerbaijan. 


Life expectancy
The Global Age Watch Index” says a better measurement for poor or middle income countries than regular life expectancy is life expectancy at 60, here we see Azerbaijan leads slightly. My malnourishment point is untouched.


Health
My opponent states the rest of my arguments are true and points to life expectancy.


Economy

Well my opponents method leaves out many factors that GNI, Per capita, Purchasing Power Parity doesn't, under this method Azerbaijan leads by a lot.

This claim is controversial, “Investopedia” made a list of the most accurate ways to measure economic growth, GNI is absent from the list but GDP is on the list despite GDP having flaws, we can't dicount it. 

Media/ Democracy


For the sake of argument I’ll agree to this. Well an Azerbaijani will add more to his nations production on average. Azerbaijan has 47 museums, but Armenia only has 23, Azerbaijan isn’t lacking here. As for original thought, Azerbaijani’s file more patents(source below, wont imbed, works this way though). Again remember that Azerbaijan’s are more innovative. So, under my opponents staement of what freedom indicates, Azerbaijan beats Armenia in art, productivity, and original thought.

file:///C:/Users/trent/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/IE/MKRY2Y23/wipo_pub_941_2018.pdf

The definition of virtuous is having or showing high moral standards, according to the OED. I would argue that failing to uphold the human rights of freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. Azerbaijan has failed to do this so I would propose that Armenia is more virtuous than Azerbaijan.
Well at least Armenia merely leads by about 7 points out of 100 points for moral freedom, so that doesn't override the massive power disparity, health disparity, and educational disparity Again, everything you state freedom proves Azerbaijan leads in.


Natural resources

Points dropped, extend arguments. -----Forgotten source my apologies. 


Conclusion

Azerbaijan has a larger military, more important natural resources, excels in what freedom aims to prove, has a larger economy(through GDP, Exports, GNI Per capita PPP), better health and a better education system. My opponent has still failed to show how Armenia is more powerful other than his natural resources point which he hasn't defended. Azerbaijan leads in most economic measurements, even per person.(sources for conclusion are in R1/R2/R3.

I  would like to thank police sheep for accepting this debate and abstaining from forfeitures, and unruly behaviour.


Con
#6
Education

Armenia [...] lags behind Azerbaijan when it comes to innovation
Per your source for the rankings under the International Innovation Index, I concede Azerbaijan is higher than Armenia - however there is only a 0.12 difference so I would argue that the difference is so insignificant that the countries are indistinguishable on this metric. However, according to the Global Innovation Index (GII), Armenia is significantly more innovative than Azerbaijan on a range of areas and most critically, in the overall rankings with Armenia in 64th place and Azerbaijan in 20 places lower at 84th in the world.
I have also been able to prove Armenia spends on education poorly, when compared to Azerbaijan. 
Whilst the use of money may be more effective, I have been able to prove that education is a bigger priority for the Armenian Government through them spending a higher percentage of GDP when compared to Armenia.

Life expectancy

 better measurement for poor or middle income countries
This is simply an opinion of the GAWI with many other organisations and scholars both disagreeing and agreeing. I would, therefore, argue that my point still stands with Armenia still having a higher life expectancy than Azerbaijan. 

Media/ Democracy

My opponent conceded in their R2 argument that "I agree that Armenia is freer".

I have proved throughout this debate that Armenia has better democratic systems and upholds human rights to a higher standard of Azerbaijan consistently.

Azerbaijan has 47 museums, but Armenia only has 23, Azerbaijan isn’t lacking here. As for original thought, Azerbaijani’s file more patents(s)
The number of museums is not relevant due to the difference in population which is a natural explanation for this. The filing of more patents doesn't say anything about the ability to express your political views - including those critical to current leadership which I have proven is easier in Armenia.
I have proven this to be subjective with different ranking bodies coming to different conclusions. Please regard the arguments made in the Education section.

Conclusion

I have tacked the vast majority of my opponent's points and either given reasonable justification as to why it should not be considered as heavy or dispelled it with further evidence. I have proven that Armenia leads in democratic freedoms, freedom of the press, Government funding priorities, life expectancy, innovation, gold production and many other areas.

Thank you for a wonderful, well-mannered debate.