PanARMENIAN.Net

Baku: Azerbaijan Will Not Be Ready to Military Operation in Karabakh
before 2008
29.07.2006 15:00 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict by
force is realistic in principle, stated political commentator of the
Zerkalo newspaper Rauf Mirkadyrov. In his words, this has to be a
short-term campaign. «Everyone knows that international interests
often conflict. There sometimes are forces interested in escalation of
conflicts. Exactly those forces can slow down, weaken the
international response. On these days we observe that trend in the
Middle East. While the US slows down the speed of making decisions in
international organizations, e.g. the UN, Israel is attaining its
goal. Thus, everything is possible,» he believes. In the commentator’s
opinion, in case of launching hostilities in Karabakh, Azerbaijan has
to determine its military potential and assess the international
situation. «Azerbaijan’s military budget currently exceeds that of
Armenia several times, however these were equal in 2003. I do not
think that within the past 3 years we were able to considerably
strengthen our army at the expense of additional funds. I do not thing
that before 2008 we will be ready to a military operation like that,»
he said, reports Analitika.az.

We note that according to the data of Azerbaijan’s Military Prosecutor
Hanlar Veliyev, 15 desertion cases were registered in the Azeri army
within the past 6 months.