Azeri president says ready for war with Armenia over Nagorno Karabakh
AFX Europe (Focus); Jun 23, 2006
BAKU (afx) – Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said the country will
retake the enclave of Nagorno Karabakh by "peaceful means or by war".
Azerbaijan fought Armenia for control of the majority-Armenian enclave
in Azerbaijani territory from 1988 to 1994.
International mediation is "hopeless," Aliyev said at a graduation
ceremony of cadets at Azerbaijan’s top military academy.
Oil will bring Azerbaijan 140 bln usd over the next two decades,
Aliyev said, and "there is no doubt we will use this money to
strengthen the army so that it can return our lands at any moment."
Azerbaijan’s first major oil pipeline, which is operated by BP and
backed by the US, goes online on July 13. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
pipeline (BTC) will provide an important export route to Western
markets.
Military spending in the predominantly Shiite Muslim country of 8 mln
people has quadrupled over the past four years to 700 mln usd in 2006,
said Aliyev, adding that yesterday, he ordered servicemen’s wages to
be increased by 100 pct.
"We are buying modern armaments," Aliyev said without elaborating. "Our
expenses in the military sphere will grow even more," he added.
Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan in the late 1980s, sparking a
six-year conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan that claimed 25,000
lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people. Despite a 1994
ceasefire, tensions remain high in the mountainous region — one of
the world’s most militarized zones