AZERBAIJAN VOWS TO USE ‘ALL MEANS’ TO REGAIN KARABAKH

Agence France Presse — English
June 22, 2007 Friday 1:18 PM GMT

Boasting of his energy-rich country’s vast increases in military
spending, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev vowed Friday to use
"all means" to restore control over the separatist ethnic Armenian
enclave of Nagorny Karabakh.

"We will strengthen our military power and use all means to pressure
Armenia," said Aliyev during a graduation ceremony at a military
academy. "We will attack Armenia on all fronts — economic, political,
diplomatic and informational."

Armenian forces took control of Nagorny Karabakh and seven other Azeri
provinces during a war in the early 1990s that killed thousands and
forced nearly a million people on both sides to flee their homes.

A ceasefire was signed in 1994 but the dispute remains unresolved
after more than a decade of negotiations and troops remain in a
tense standoff.

Flush with revenues from oil exports, Azerbaijan has boosted defence
spending by a factor of eight in the last four years to one billion
dollars (745 million euros) this year, Aliyev said.

Azerbaijan would soon begin producing its own military hardware,
he added without elaboration.

Aliyev accused Armenia of blocking negotiations by refusing to budge
on demands for Karabakh’s independence.

"Nagorny Karabakh will never be independent and the sooner Armenia
realizes this, the better," Aliyev said.