LEADER SAYS AZERI MILITARY EXPENDITURE TO EQUAL ENTIRE ARMENIAN BUDGET

AzTV Baku
16 Mar 06

President Ilham Aliyev has said that Azerbaijan’s military expenditure
to equal Armenia’s entire budget and that he sees this as his duty,
the state-run AzTV reported on 16 March.

In a live address to the second congress of Azeris in the world held
in Baku on 16 March, the president said that “Azerbaijan’s military
budget is increasing year by year…. It will increase further in
2007. Our military budget equals 600m dollars now. I consider it my
duty to make our military expenditure equal Armenia’s entire budget
in the near future. Armenia will never be able to compete with us.”

The president said that the abyss between Armenia and Azerbaijan from
the economic point of view will continue to deepen.

“Azerbaijan’s oil and gas will be transported to Europe now and the
two sides are very interested in this. As a country, Armenia can in
no way compete with Azerbaijan. The latter has been isolated from all
regional projects because of us… Its occupying policy and unfounded
claims will have a negative impact on Armenia itself,” he said.

Having described the Armenians as “barbarians” for destroying
mosques, schools and other buildings in occupied Azeri territories,
the president vowed to build new towns after the liberation of the
occupied lands. He said that Azerbaijan would be able to do that
because of its economy.

Aliyev said that the restoration of Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity would serve the interests of the Armenian people as this
would enable Yerevan to find a way out of this difficult situation
and join regional projects

He ruled out any ethnic and religious conflicts in Azerbaijan in the
future and urged the Azerbaijani diaspora to promote Baku’s image
abroad and inform the international community of any progress the
country makes.