Azeri president says military spending to equal Armenia’s entire budget

Yeni Azarbaycan, Baku
17 Sep 05

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said that the international
community should not be concerned about the increase in Azerbaijan’s
military spending as years of peace talks with Armenia have yielded no
results. Addressing a meeting at the Defence Ministry, Aliyev said
that he has set himself a task to make Azerbaijan’s military equal to
Armenia’s entire budget. He said that in 2006 the country’s military
spending will double and reach 600m dollars. The following is an
excerpt from unattributed report by Azerbaijani newspaper Yeni
Azarbaycan on 17 September headlined “The president has held a meeting
on army build-up” and subheaded “Ilham Aliyev: the Azerbaijani army’s
combat readiness deserves appreciation”. Subheadings have been
inserted editorially: The Azerbaijani president and
commander-in-chief, Ilham Aliyev, yesterday chaired a meeting at the
Defence Ministry on the development of the army in Azerbaijan.

[Passage omitted: Defence Minister Safar Abiyev and top officers
welcomed Ilham Aliyev outside the ministry]

Addressing the meeting, Ilham Aliyev said that the army has been
developing in Azerbaijan at a high pace and very successfully. The
establishment of a proper army has brought dividends to Azerbaijan. We
are strengthening our military potential, and I am confident that this
process will also continue developing at a high pace in the future.

[Passage omitted: about the late President Heydar Aliyev’s role in the
build-up of the army]

“Azerbaijan is living in a state of war. Our land is under occupation,
and bearing this in mind, one should pay major attention to the
army. As the commander-in-chief, I attach major importance to these
issues. It is possible to say that I deal with these issues on a daily
basis because this is the most important issue for us.”

Peace talks yield no results President Ilham Aliyev added that
Azerbaijan must restore its territorial integrity. “We are trying to
settle this issue peacefully, through talks.

However, as we know, years of talks have yielded no results. It is
possible to settle the issue in a just manner as a whole, and I hope
that we will achieve this because Azerbaijan’s position is based on
international legal norms, Nagornyy Karabakh is an integral part of
Azerbaijan and our territorial integrity is recognized and supported
by the entire world community. Historical justice is on our side,
too.”

[Passage omitted: Armenia does not comply with UN resolutions on
Karabakh; efforts of international organizations yield no results]

“At the same time, the issue remains unsettled. Despite our endless
talk about all these factors, diplomatic, economic and other political
achievements, the issue remains unsettled. What should Azerbaijan do
in this situation? Azerbaijan has conducted and expressed its
peaceful policy for many years, but the issue remains unsettled. For
this reason, it is natural that we are increasing our military
potential.”

[Passage omitted: repetition]

Azerbaijan’s military spending will equal Armenia’s entire budget
President Ilham Aliyev stressed that next year’s budget will be more
than 3.5bn dollars. In this case, military spending will grow as
well. In 2004, military spending was 175m dollars, in 2005 – 300m
dollars and in 2006 it will be 600m dollars, and this is not the final
rate. As you know, my task is that our military budget should equal
Armenia’s entire budget, and maybe exceed it and it will exceed it. We
will achieve this.

President Ilham Aliyev said that Armenia and some international
organizations are concerned about this, i.e. the increase in
Azerbaijan’s military budget is the reason for their concern. The
increase in our country’s military budget is our sovereign right. On
the other hand, the sides, organizations and countries which are
playing a leading role in these organizations, should be concerned
about the fact of Azerbaijani land has been occupied for more than 10
years.

Nagornyy Karabakh is not a democracy “I would like to speak about
another issue. Armenian propaganda has been trying to put Azerbaijan
in a negative light before the international community.

They are trying to prove that there are allegedly democratic
institutions in Nagornyy Karabakh, democracy is developing and human
rights are protected there, and that in Azerbaijan, democracy is not
developing. This is a completely false and very dangerous theory.

“First, Azerbaijan is a country which is developing at a very high
pace in terms of democratic development. Everyone admits this, and
first of all, the Azerbaijani people see this and welcome our policy.
Second, the Nagornyy Karabakh regime is an illegal establishment. It
is not recognized by anyone. A criminal regime is ruling there. For
some reason, hypocritical politicians do not pay attention to the fact
that drugs are being cultivated and trafficked, armed groups and
terrorist organizations are deployed, human rights are violated and a
totally militarized regime exists there. Nagornyy Karabakh is
presented as an alleged example of democracy in this region.

Armenians to fail hampering regional projects “They have done their
best against the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, but failed. Now
they are trying to tie the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline to the
Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagornyy Karabakh conflict. This is a completely
false idea. There is no link between these issues. The
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan is an international project, it is supported by
international financial institutions and major states, it is being
successfully implemented. No lobby or Armenian organization will be
able to hamper it.

“I would like to speak about another issue as well. Armenian
officials have recently started making statements against a new
regional project. You know that we support the idea of building a
railway linking Azerbaijan to Turkey, and the construction of the
Kars-Tbilisi-Baku railway is becoming a reality.

We are actively working and ready to take financial commitments to
make this railway happen in the near future. The feasibility study is
being prepared, and when it is ready, Azerbaijan will take financial
commitments as the first move.”

The head of state ridiculed the Armenians’ protests against the
allocation of funds for the construction of the Kars-Tbilisi-Baku
railway.

[Passage omitted: Ilham Aliyev said that Armenians have no moral right
to occupy Azerbaijani lands]