Azerbaijan hikes defense spending by almost a quarter

AP Worldstream; Jun 21, 2005

Azerbaijan’s parliament voted on Tuesday to increase defense spending
this year by almost a quarter.

The assembly voted 100-0 in favor of amending the 2005 budget to lift
the projections for government income and spending. The oil-rich
Caspian Sea state has benefited from record crude prices on the world
markets.

Defense spending is to rise by more than 23 percent to US$313 million
(Aâ=82¬258 million), with most of the extra funds earmarked on buying
new equipment. The country’s overall expenditure is going up by 10
percent.

Azerbaijan is locked in a tense dispute with neighboring Armenia over
the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. The mountainous region inside
Azerbaijan has been under the control of ethnic Armenians since the
early 1990s, following fighting that killed an estimated 30,000
people.

A cease-fire was signed in 1994, but the enclave’s final political
status has not been determined and shooting breaks out frequently
between the two sides, which face off across a demilitarized buffer
zone.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev last week boasted of his country’s
military muscle at a rally of the ruling party in the capital Baku as
Armenia accused Azerbaijan of pursuing a weapons build up in violation
of a key arms control treaty.

“Azerbaijan has recently got the upper hand in negotiations with
Armenia over the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” he
said.

“Military and economic potential are on our side. We will get our
lands back,” said Aliev.